


M O O N C H I L D

by JovaLV



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Best Friends, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Established Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn, long fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:34:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 22
Words: 85,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28919907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JovaLV/pseuds/JovaLV
Summary: Jane Lupin grew up with a loving father in a comfortable nice home with fantastic friends and went to the greatest school for witchcraft and wizardry of the time. One thing Jane always knew however was that, no matter how dearly she loved him, her father couldn't be more different from her. When she returned for her third year at Hogwarts, everybody was terrified by notorious mass murderer Sirius Black having escaped from Azkaban, but something about him felt too familiar for Jane's liking.Begins during Prisoner of Azkaban.In the end, all that matters are love, friendship and family.
Relationships: Angelina Johnson/Fred Weasley, Fred Weasley/Original Character(s), Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Lee Jordan/George Weasley, Seamus Finnigan/Dean Thomas, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	1. J A N E   L U P I N

There were things, Jane never knew about herself. Who her father was, for example. She thought she knew, of course. After all, she thought she grew up with him. The man she grew up with was wonderful. He was kind, sweet and caring. Jane loved him with all her heart and she desperately needed him to know that. She sometimes doubted he loved himself very much though, and when she was a lot younger, she found out why. Her father was a very special man. Not only was he a wizard, a bloody brilliant one at that, but he was also a werewolf. The older she got, the less of a problem Jane had with her father being a werewolf, and by the time she started Hogwarts, it was completely normal to her. However, that wasn't always the case. In fact, when Jane first found out, she was terrified. It was a simple way to break his heart. Five year old Jane had exactly three questions for him, one more crushing than the other.  
She never had a mother, and when she found out about her father's condition, she first asked him, if he had killed her mother. He hadn't.  
For her second question she asked him, if he was going to kill her. He wouldn't.  
And at last she asked if she was destined to be a monster, just like him. She wasn't.  
Every passing day, Jane Lupin felt nothing but guilt and shame for asking such horrible things. She didn't obsess over it, it didn't ruin their relationship and he never blamed her or held a grouch, she had been just five, after all. But Jane knew about the prejudice against people like her father and the fact that she once made him feel like the monster the ministry made him out to be, made her want to be the best version of herself.  
For a while, she seemed like the perfect child. Respectful, tidy, smart, and certainly a rule follower. But then she started Hogwarts and things went a little south. Just like her father, Jane was sorted into Gryffindor. In the same year, as a certain celebrity, Harry Potter. When he sent her off to school, Remus told Jane to be nice to Harry. He had a hard life and might have needed a friend. That was easier than either of them imagined. Just seconds after she had taken place in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, a small, scrawny, black haired boy joined her. Even before Ron Weasley joined them in the compartment, Harry and Jane were already fond of each other and they were best friends ever since.  
Her father told her to be nice to Harry, but Jane adored Harry so much, she had no problem with beating up Draco Malfoy for picking on him. With absolutely no concern for her health, she followed Harry, Ron and Hermione down, past a three-headed dog, to save the Philosopher's Stone. When their potions master, Professor Snape, who had a strong hatred for both of them, once again picked on Harry, Jane jinxed the Professor's cauldron and it blew up in his face, painting him completely green for almost a week.   
It wasn't long until she found herself in detention every single weekend and often, she'd be joined by Ron Weasley's brothers, Fred and George. The twins that seemed to have nothing but mischief on their mind. After she told them how she set off all the confiscated Filibusters in the caretaker, Filch's office at once, the twins took her under their wing, and as a trio, they managed to pull and get away with more pranks than ever before. Nevertheless, when she came home, Remus greeted her with a towering pile of letters from Hogwarts, recording every single thing she was caught for. Oddly enough, while being very mad with her, he didn't seem disappointed at all. The contrary, actually. She reminded him of two old friends, he said, and one would be so very proud of how she turned out.  
She took that as an invite, to act out just a little more. Her second year target was the idiot Lockhart. He practically couldn't make a step with one of Jane's traps going off. She pierced her own ears with safety pins, keeping the safety pins as earrings, and soon, many of the other girls asked her to do it for them as well. She also figured out how to use a sewing needle and ink to give herself tattoos and began drawing permanent words and symbols on her arms and legs. She figured with Slytherin's monster creeping around the hallways, she might as well live her life to the fullest while she still could.She made it out alive of course. She actually had quite a good time, pushing Lockhart down that slimey pipe and had a good laugh when that moron obliviated himself.   
Her life was destined to change the summer after. Jane had always noticed how different her and Remus looked. They were almost opposites. While Remus had light brown and greying hair and brown eyes, Jane had a full head of lustrous, black hair and striking grey eyes. Even though she was still growing, she figured she'd definitely outgrow him at some point. Naturally she had always assumed she came after her mother, after all, Remus never showed her a single picture. But an odd feeling overcame her as she picked up the Daily Prophet left at their door. The man on the front page seemed like an older, more insane, sicker version of Jane.   
"Hey dad," she said, joining Remus in the kitchen "Who's Sirius Black?"  
Remus choked on his coffee, and stared up at her "Why?"  
"Cuz he escaped from Azkaban, that's why. Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress-" she threw the paper onto the kitchen table "That's quite a title. The only thing I'm infamous for are my incredible good looks."   
"Not to forget your humility and diffidence." he said picking up the paper and his eyes widening as he began to read.  
"You're right... suppose I'm pretty much perfect after all. So who is that guy?"  
"Well- he's clearly a person... well, a murderer- who killed a bunch of people and now- now he's free. Ha."  
"Wouldn't it be fun if he came to Hogwarts?" she joked "We got Voldemort-"  
"Don't say his name."  
"I met him twice so far, we're on a first name basis by now. Of course I suppose I could call him Tom... Anyways we got Tom two years in a row, time to mix it up a bit."  
"That's not funny Jane. You better hope for everybody's sake he gets captured and locked up before the schoolyear begins. Speaking of which-"  
Jane raised her eyebrows with suspicion as she was balancing a bowl, cereal, the milk bottle, a glass and orange juice over to the table "Yes?"  
"You'll be glad to hear that Dumbledore hired me as the new Defence against the Dark Arts professor." everything Janes was holding, fell to the ground with a loud crashing sound. She quietly looked down at the mess and then back at him.  
"No."  
"Yes."  
"No, no, no! Dad, tell me you're joking!"  
"No, I'm not. Nobody-"  
"You can't do that to me!" she panicked "I have a reputation to uphold I- I-" she rubbed her face "I can't be known as the teacher's kid! You can't do that-"  
"Oh I know quite well what reputation you have to uphold. I'm very glad to make sure you actually get an education for once, maybe you'll even stop messing around so much, with me making sure you behave, eh? You wouldn't want to disappoint your old father with your antics, would you?"  
"Dad seriously! Right now, people think I'm cool! You can't ruin that for me- I only have a few good years left before I'm old and get a boring job-"  
"That's enough Jane." he said, getting up and cleaning up the kitchen floor "You're always so dramatic. you'll still get to have a good year, bloody hell. You'll get to go to Hogsmeade, hopefully make the Quidditch team, right? I'll just teach one lousy subject, and you can visit your father from time to time. Does that sound so bad?"  
"Change your name."  
"What?"  
"If you introduce yourself as," she pretended to gag "Professor Lupin, they'll know you're my father... can't have that. Call yourself Professor Mooney or something."  
"Mooney?" he looked surprised "Where'd you get that name?"  
"Oh just some old map thingy." she tried to play it down "Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Mooney makes the most sense, because of your moon thingy, right?"  
"What map? Do you have that map?"  
"No- I just saw it in a book." she lied "It's nothing special."   
"Right." he said, looking no less suspicious "Well, sorry to disappoint but I'll be going by Professor Lupin, suppose you'll just have to live with that."  
"Fantastic." she muttered "Can I go to Diagon Alley today? I still need to get my books."  
"I don't suppose you'd like me to bring you?"  
She relaxed her jaw a little "Of course I'd like to go with you." the old, familiar feeling of guilt crawled up inside of her. She actually thought her father was pretty cool, she just didn't want him teaching at her school. "You know I love you."  
"Love you too, kid. We can get going in an hour."  
They got all of the books and some new robes during their trip to Diagon Alley. As always the robes were second-hand and already very worn out and so was the spell book. The other books they bought new and Jane wondered, how exactly she was going to do study for Care of Magical Creatures, with the book trying to bite her hands off.   
She tried her best to convince Remus to let her go down to Knockturn Alley. She knew Harry went once and survived the experience so she didn't see any reason why she couldn't go as well but Remus stayed persistent and instead they got some ice cream. "Could I visit Harry? He's staying at the Leaky Cauldron."  
"Not for long, yeah? We wanted to cook today, remember?"  
"Sure. So how long are we talking?"  
"Three hours. Then you take the fireplace home. And remember you still have to pack."  
"Deal." she grinned, shaking his hand before running off to the Leaky Caudron. Harry being somewhere she could actually meet him, was fantastic. Entering the bar her heart made a small leap. There they all were. Not just Harry but also Hermione, Ron and the entire Weasley family. She really liked the Weasleys, except for Percy, who much to her dismay was wearing an HB badge. She sighed, great now the pinhead was Head Boy.   
Harry sat with the back to her, talking with Ron and Jane spotted another picture of Sirius Black hanging from a wooden pillar. He seemed more upset, angry, scared and saddened than dangerous and evil. Something about his eyes made her feel warm. But that didn't matter right now. "Gotcha!" she growled, grabbing Harry's shoulders and he jumped around, with a pale face.  
"Bloody hell, Jane! You sca- surprised me!" He got up to greet her with a hug "How're you doing? Did you have a good summer?"  
"Oh, same old. Mostly grounded for everything, as if detention wasn't enough punishment. And you? Finally rid yourself of the Dursley's? How'd you do that? I told you I'd help with the poison."  
"Blew up my aunt Marge."  
"Oh well-" she shrugged her shoulders "May she rest in pieces."  
"Not like that-" he said swiftly "I mean, I blew her up like a balloon. She's fine now."  
"Too bad... something should've poked her." she beamed around the room and her eyes fell on Percy "So Pinhead, showing that new Head Boy badge around so everyone can admire it, eh? Sure would be a shame if something happened to it."  
"Don't you dare." he said "I am Head Boy now, learn to respect your sup-"  
"It's a Humongous Bighead badge." interrupted Fred "I think it's quite fitting, don't you?"  
"Now that you say it, I do see it, yes." she swung over the table and greeted him and George with handshakes "Such a pleasure to see you fine gentlemen again."  
"The pleasure is ours." said Fred.  
"We are positively delighted m'lady." said George.  
"So, your killer twin is on the loose." said Fred pointing over at the wanted poster "Got anything to do with that?"  
"So you guys see it too? We look alike, don't we?"  
They both nodded seriously "Especially the beard." said Fred.  
"The resemblance is uncanny." agreed George.  
"You kids are the ones to talk." she said "Couldn't grow a beard if you tried."  
"Maybe you could give some advice."   
She pulled a grimace "Tomorrow I'll have a wand." she warned "I wouldn't mess with me."  
"Wouldn't even thing about it." said Fred. Mr and Mrs Weasley walked out into the bar and looked at Jane, the poster of Sirius Black and back at Jane.  
"Well, who have we got here?" asked Mrs Weasley coming a little closer.  
"That's Jane." said George "Jane Lupin."  
Jane politely shook Mrs Weasley's hand "Hello, nice to finally meet you. I especially enjoyed that howler you sent last year, Ron's head was so red, I thought it might explode."  
"Oh well, he deserved it."  
"I agree. I mean what they did to that poor tree... disgraceful."  
"Hey!" said Ron "You should've seen what that tree did to us. Broke my wand, that bloody thing."  
"Lupin, you said?" said Mr Weasley "No doubt you'll be Remus Lupin's daughter then?"  
"I'd say the odds are in your favour with that one." agreed Jane. The odds weren't.  
"How d'you kids know each other then?" asked Mrs Weasley, eyeing Jane with a hint of mistrust.  
"Well, suppose she's Harry's best friend." said Fred.  
"We just met her in detention." said George.  
"Ah, detention." sighed Mrs Weasley "What a wonderful way to make new friends."  
"Isn't it?" said Fred in a nostalgic tone.  
"Only while polishing trophies and inhaling the intoxicating fumes you find your truest friends." said George.  
Jane knew that look Mrs Weasley was giving her too well. It was every parent's look once they met her. The idea their children might be hanging around that grungy kid, with three safety pins in each ear, wrapped in an old leather jacket her father gave her and messily self-cut hair, ripped jeans, flannels and big, black boots, made every parent a little nauseous. They looked at her and saw a future criminal. The truth was, Jane wouldn't have minded wearing nice dresses, pretty floral tops and golden earrings. But her father couldn't afford buying her new clothes so she tried to make it look like she was dressing poorly on purpose. She didn't mind that either. Bender had always been her favourite character from The Breakfast Club, so what bad was it to take him as an inspiration. Sure, she meant quite a bit of trouble, but she was in no way an actual criminal. And as long as she looked like she was hiding a jackknife somewhere in her pockets, she couldn't disappoint anyone.  
Besides, Jane didn't do parents. They made her nervous, and wanting people to like her felt like too much pressure. However she liked Mrs Weasley very much. Not only because she liked her kids but also because she had been so lovely to Harry. It said a great deal about a family struggling themselves to make ends meet, to treat another boy like their own. Especially someone like Harry. Jane couldn't imagine the Malfoys for example, ever doing the same, even though they definitely had enough money.  
Jane felt she definitely used her three hours to the fullest. With the twins she went to Gambol and Japes to fill up on Filibusters, and she gladly played with Hermione's new cat, Crookshanks, whom Ron seemed to hate, but Jane was rather fond of the beast. "I wouldn't mind if he ate that rat." whispered Jane. Ron's rat Scabbers was asleep most of the time but when he wasn't, he found great joy in biting Jane as often as he could "When I get my wand back, how about we stun it and feed it to lovely little Crookshanks?" she suggested "It's so fat, I bet it'll make a nice meal."  
"You will not!" said Ron, holding Scabbers against his chest "It's not Scabbers fault you don't know how to treat a rat right."  
"Oh don't tell me you've grown fond of that smelly thing." said Jane "All it does is sleep and bite."  
"You."  
"What?"  
"He only bites you. That's on you."  
"Splendid. Suppose then it doesn't matter. If that beast gives me rabies, I'll just bite you next, Ronald."  
Harry laughed "I bet it would be quite a sight, both of you foaming at the mouth as you bite each other's heads off."  
"Lucky for us," snapped Ron "Scabbers doesn't have rabies. Lupin's just being mean."  
"Am not! You don't have your stupid rat under control. Look at this scar!" she held her hand out for Ron to see. A tiny white scar sat on the knuckle of her right thumb "I was in agony for days." she joked.  
When it was Jane's time to leave, she felt the need to make a small adjustment to Percy's appearance. Maybe a small correction to a previous statement is necessary. Jane was in no way a criminal. But she happened to have rather quick fingers. And sometimes it would just so happen, that a CD or a Quidditch Jersey or a tape, a book or maybe a new bottle of nail-polish would disappear under her jacket and from the store without anyone ever paying for them. And on that particular day, it was a small silver Head Boy badge that wandered from his chest into her pocket, without him even noticing. She violently shook his hand "See you tomorrow then, Mr Head Boy. I hope you'll have a wonderful night and the sweetest dreams."  
"Suck up." grinned Fred when she was about to take the fireplace from the Leaky Cauldron.  
Jane went to shake Fred goodbye with both her hands, and when she let go of him he smirked at the silver shining in his hands "Farewell, Weasley."  
"I shall see you tomorrow at eleven." he nodded and Jane stepped backwards into the fireplace.  
She threw some of the Floo powder to her feet "Lupin Lodge!" she said and closed her eyes as the terrible spinning, pulling, being thrown around until she felt like throwing up sensation began. She stumbled out of the fireplace into her living room went to greet her father with a kiss on the cheek "Bonjour padre. Ready to cooketh?"  
"Go wash your hands." he said "Then you can start cuttething the vegetables."


	2. T H E   D E M E N T O R' S   K I S S

As the two previous years, Jane woke up bright and early, not at all well rested, but also as the previous years, she figured she could just sleep on the train. She never did, of course, but it was a nice sentiment. She felt especially grumpy on that particular morning as she watched her father pack his own trunk as well. No kid should ever be put through the horror of having their own parent as a teacher. Hogwarts was a place to escape parents, not take Defence Against the Dark Arts with them. Quirrell was such a fun, easy target, until he revealed the Voldetumor on the back of his head, and Lockhart was rather fun as well. She couldn't mess with her own father. She'd get detention and grounded. It was a cruel joke. Even worse was, that Jane knew damn well, her father was a genius with a wand.  
"Alright, so you are Professor Lupin, and we are totally unrelated. Lupin just happens to be a common surname in Yorkshire, alright?"  
"Jane, I'm not playing your stupid games. Nobody is going to care."  
"I care! You can go first on the platform, I'll wait ten minutes and then-"  
"Jane! Just stop being ridiculous." he grinned to himself and muttered "Riddikulus..."  
"What was that?"  
"You'll see soon enough. Finish your breakfast now, please. It's a long ride." It sure was. Two and a half hours to be exact. Jane wasn't exactly having that.  
"Why don't we just Floo powder to London and take the train from there."  
"Great idea, honey." he said sarcastically "Trunks love travelling by Floo powder. It's a real rush for those heavy things to be whipped around like that. But then again, I don't suppose you've got anything of sentimental value in there?"  
"Oh alright." she groaned "You know Mr Weasley had a flying car?"  
"Yes, I've heard the story of how the boys crashed it into the Willow."  
"So, what happens to the cottage while we're away?"  
"I rented it out. I locked all our personal belongings away."  
The idea of someone else sleeping in her bed wasn't exactly pleasant but renting out always was a good way to make some extra money. "So... do you think you could maybe give me a certain object back?"  
"I wonder, what object you might be talking about?"  
"Uhm, it's about twelve and three-quarter inches long..." he'd taken her wand at the beginning of the summer. Jane called it a lack of trust and her father absolutely agreed.  
"Can't be about a broomstick then, can it?"  
"No-" she looked at him "How could it? I haven't got a broomstick."  
"Oh well, I suppose there's nothing hiding behind the sofa then. So what is it you want?"  
Jane wasn't there anymore. She sprinted over to the sofa and leapt onto it, so fast it almost tipped over. Behind the sofa, carefully wrapped in blue paper, laid a long, thin package. She grabbed it and unwrapped it so fast, the Flash himself would've been impressed "Dad!" she stared at the Cleansweep Seven "No bloody way! Is that for me?"  
"Dunno, what does the card say?"  
"What card?" she asked guiltily, searching through the paper.  
"Kidding. Of course it's for you. About time you got your own broom, isn't it?"  
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" she was beyond ecstatic. "This is the greatest thing ever, thank you!"   
"Yes, yes." he said, patting her head "Maybe you'll survive my presence at my own old school if you're occupied on weekends."  
"Oh dad, you know I didn't mean that. I'm glad you're coming-"  
"No, you're not."  
She sighed "No, I'm not. But this is awesome. I absolutely love you!"  
"Love you too, kid. Now, put the broom into the bag and let's get going. Unless you'd rather fly to Hogwarts?"  
"It might actually be faster." she said. They lived all the way up in Yorkshire, and were about to take a train from Northern England to Southern England only to take the Hogwarts Express back up to the North. But Remus never wanted Jane to miss out on the ride on the Express. It was part of the experience, he said. It was a waste of money, she said. Nevertheless, she stuck her new broom into the enchanted bag, took her trunk and followed her father out and down to the station. At the station's bookshop, they bought a few comic-books- Jane particularly enjoyed the Marvel ones- and headed onto the train.   
Jane didn't like Muggles very much. She didn't hate them, of course, and she had no problem with Muggles like the Grangers, but she had a dislike for the completely ordinary Muggles. They always looked so judgemental. She knew they were judging her clothes, her father's clothes and the wooden trunks they were carrying. Jane just wished they'd mind their own business. Read a book instead of staring like her and her father were some sort of zoo animals.   
They finally arrived at King's Cross, and Jane felt the typical exhaustion of the long train ride, with another one coming up. An even longer one, all the way back up. They got a trolley and went on to platforms nine and ten. "After you." said Jane.  
"You better be right behind me." he warned.  
"Of course." She watched after him going through the barrier between the platforms and followed him. Coming onto platform nine and three-quarters was always a rush. Seeing the Hogwarts Express in all its glory, all the children with their special pets, the nerds already wearing their robes, she loved it.  
"Alright, kid. I'll go find myself a quiet compartment. You go ahead and wait for your friends. I'll see you when we're there." he kissed her on the top of her head and headed into the train. She felt guilty and hoped she didn't make him feel as if she didn't want him around, or as if she was embarrassed by him. Maybe she had been a little harsh, but after all, they always had banter like that.  
As every year they were a little early, and as every year, Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys were a little late. She patiently waited on the platform until the first redheads appeared through the barrier.   
"Good morning, Mr Potter." she said once he came to a stop "You look- about ready to explode."  
"Oh, it was a little chaotic." he said and yawned loudly before continuing "I could never look as exhausted as you though."  
"That you can't." she agreed "Shall we?" he nodded and they hooked arms, waiting for Ron and Hermione to join them on their quest to find any leftover seats. However, Mr Weasley took Harry aside before they got a chance to get onto the train and Jane tried her hardest to not- well visibly- eavesdrop.  
They were talking about Sirius Black, whom Harry said he wasn't afraid of. Not for the same reasons as Jane, certainly, but at least they had the lack of fear in common. However, she couldn't help but wonder, why he should be scared. With the twins joking around loudly as usual, it was hard to hear every part of the conversation. "-won't go looking for Black." she heard Mr. Weasley say. Why would Harry, or in that case anyone, go looking for Black?  
"Why would I go looking for someone I know wants to kill me?" said Harry. Kill Harry? Suddenly Jane didn't feel as relaxed anymore. She didn't know what it was about Black, but she most certainly didn't appreciate anyone trying to lay a single finger on Harry. She'd have no problem killing Black if it meant Harry was safe.  
"Not eavesdropping, are you?" asked Fred "Nice trick, by the way. Getting us the badge and all. Look at Mr Bighead Boy over there, I wonder what she sees in him." Jane followed the direction Fred was looking and saw Percy showing off his badge to Penelope Clearwater, as if it was his only personality trait- then again, maybe it was.  
"I know right?" she said "Who actually finds red hair attractive?"  
"Very funny, Lupin." he frowned "Got your wand yet?"  
She took her wand from her pocket and pointed it at him "Don't suppose you were going to say something stupid?"  
"No, definitely not." he said. Jane was- well, decent at school. She wasn't the kind of person to study a ton or pay attention or show up to classes. She got through most of her exams with A's, E's and a few P's but her spellwork was outstanding. She supposed part of it was thanks to her wand's dragon hearstring core, but most of it was most definitely genetics. She always admired her father's magical abilities and inherited them from him. Barely anyone dared to mess with her as long as she was carrying her wand because she could cast curses with devastating precision. Of course she wasn't going to actually harm any of her friends, she knew that and so did Fred, but he usually didn't risk it.  
"We're gonna go somewhere there in the middle, if my brother annoys you again." said Fred to Jane as they finally got on the train. He of course was referring to himself, George and their best friend Lee Jordan and Jane chuckled at Ron's annoyance.  
"Taken he always annoys me, I would have to come along immediately." she said "But I suppose I'll survive." she went with Harry, Ron and Hermione to find some seats, but they weren't too lucky. The only empty compartment they could find, was all the way at the end of the train, and after throwing one look in there, she refused to enter. Her father sat by the window, already fast asleep. She wondered how he did it so quickly.  
"Who d'you reckon he is?" asked Ron. Jane realized that none of her friends had ever actually seen her father.  
"Professor R. J. Lupin-" said Hermione and her and Harry turned to look at her.  
Ron seemed to be a little oblivious and asked "How d'you know that?"  
"It's on his case." replied Hermione swiftly "Jane, your father's a new teacher?"  
"My father?" asked Jane innocently, looking at the stupid case. Who writes their name on their case? "Dunno what you're talking about."  
"No, you do." said Harry, grinning from ear to ear "Mr Weasley said it yesterday, Remus Lupin. R. J. Lupin. Why didn't you tell us your father was going to teach us?"  
"I'm telling you, I've never seen this man in my life." said Jane "But Lupin is a very common surname."  
"So what's the J for?" asked Harry "James as well?"  
"No, John." said Jane, before clapping her hand in front of her mouth "I guess."  
Ron was utterly amused "Teacher's pet."  
She pulled a grimace "Alright, I'm out of here. Try not to wake this complete stranger I've never, ever seen before. He seems tired."  
"At least tell us what he teaches!" said Ron.  
She groaned "Defence Against the Dark Arts."  
"Well, I hope he's up to it. He looks like one good hex would finish him off-"  
"Nothing could finish him off." Jane hissed back "He's a genius, absolutely brilliant. You're lucky to have someone like him as a teacher for once."  
"Thought you had no idea who he was?" mocked Harry.  
"Oh alright, he's my father. Listen, I hope you see why you can't go around telling people he is though, right? I mean, I'm me. People like me can't have their parent as a teacher. That's a Malfoy thing, that's something the Malfoys would do to buy him better grades or something."  
"Jane, people are going to hear his name and know who he is." said Hermione.  
"Uhm no, not if we tell everyone I'm actually pronounced.... French. Loupé or something fun like that, right?" she looked around at the three of them shaking their heads and groaned again "I'm going to have a terrible year, aren't I."  
"Well-" Ron scratched the back of his head "I suppose personally I'd pay the Whomping Willow a visit if my parents were teaching at Hogwarts but... maybe they'll think your father's actually cool-"  
"Oh he is." said Jane with all the confidence in the world "They'll like him, I know that. The problem is me being his daughter. A teacher's daughter. Supervised by a parent at Hogwarts. My image-"  
"Your image is fine." said Harry.  
Ron nodded vigourously "Fred and George are certainly bad enough influences to make even a teacher's kid look fun-"  
"If anyone's the bad influence, it's me." said Jane with an offended pout.  
"Sure you are." Jane didn't appreciate the sarcasm in Harry's voice. "So- are you gonna sit down or-"   
Jane shook her head and heaved her trunk onto the others "I'll go looking for the less annoying Weasleys."  
"What, Percy?" joked Harry, resulting in a slap in the back of his head by Ron "Ow!"   
Staggering down the train, trying to find somewhere there in the middle, she came by Neville Longbottom, who- once again- was on the desperate search for his toad. "Morning Nev." she said "Looking for Trevor?"  
"I can't find him anywhere." said the boy "I swear, he hates me."  
"Doubtful. I bet he's just a very- adventurous toad. He'll turn up. He always does." she wondered immediately, what an adventurous toad would be up to. Regular toad by day, bat-toad by night, driving around and fighting crime with his bat-toad powers. Agent Trevor. "Bet that would make a wicked comic-book." she mumbled to herself.  
"What?" asked Neville, still standing there, trying to snap her back to reality.  
"Oh, nothing. Have you seen Fred and George?"  
He nodded "Yeah, up there-" he pointed up the hallway "What was it, I think like four more."  
"Thanks Nev. And don't worry about Trevor, he's probably already back at your seat."  
Indeed, she found the twins, together with Lee Jordan "That was quick." said Fred, moving over a little so Jane could sit down "Did he bring out Scabbers?"  
"No, he talked." she said "Hey Lee, have you got any parchment on you?"  
"Just this." he said, handing her a planner "But I don't really plan er-" he smiled proudly over his pun. He was the only one. "on using it, so go ahead."  
"Thanks." she opened the small book and began drawing small toads all over the first page. One with a cape, another one with a mask, one, she gave a little hat and cigar.   
"Whatchu doing?" asked Fred after a while, looking at the small crimefighting toads.  
"Hear me out," she said dramatically as if she was making a big pitch "Super Toad. Trevor Longbottom, an unsuspecting toad becomes a crimefighting vigilante after falling into one of Snape's potions."  
"Oh, I like the one with the cape." said Fred.  
"Capes are impractical." said Lee "Especially on a toad. Show me that." he snapped the planner from Jane's hand and looked at the toads "Give him the mask. Otherwise people will know it's Trevor and someone takes Neville hostage."  
"Of course," said George "The evil Scabbers, half rat half man, finds out anyways and steals Neville away in the middle of the night and demands a high ransom to give him back."  
"But Trevor doesn't give in so easily." said Fred while Lee began scribbling something into the planner as well "He hunts Scabbers down and rescues Neville in the fight of his life." A second later the four of them were laughing loudly, when Lee revealed his sketch of Scabbers, a muscular He Man like figure with a rat's head and tail.   
They spent the next hours drawing a stupid little comic into Lee's planner, including more and more of the pets, with a very special cameo by Lee's own giant Tarantula. "I'm just saying Trevor needs a catchphrase." said Lee.  
"He's a toad, Lee." said Jane "He doesn't speak."  
"But he thinks! He can think a catchphrase."  
"Just let him croak. Who thinks a bloody catchphrase?"  
"A toad that can't say it. Keep up Lupin."  
"Right then." she snarled "What should he think as a catchphrase?"  
"Er- digadidoo? No... Not in my backyard! That doesn't work either... All burns out! Lets get busy! Maybe I'm a little stuck right now."  
"Oh but why, Jordan? I mean just think like a toad. That shouldn't be too hard."  
"That shouldn't be too blah blah blah." he mocked "Oh, I've got it! How about quack quack?"  
"That's a duck." said Fred.  
"It would be more like ribbit ribbit." said George.  
Jane rolled her eyes "We can make it something simple like Robin's holy. Like bloody hell, bloody eggshell, bloody iceberg and so on. Just make it completely random."  
"Bloody bad idea." said Lee and Jane stuck out her tongue.   
For half an hour, Jane went back to the compartment at the end, played a little with Crookshanks and traded Chocolate Frog cards with Ron. "You sure he's still breathing?" asked Ron pointing at her father, still fast asleep in his corner.  
"Oh yeah. He sleeps like a rock, don't mind that. Do you have Elfrida Clagg?"  
"For Andros the Invincible, I do." he said and they exchanged the cards.  
"Well, look who it is." Jane jumped around at that familiar voice drawling behind her. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle slid open the door to the compartment "Potty, Loony and the Weasel. I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?"  
Potty, Loony and the Weasel jumped up immediately, with Ron knocking over Crookshanks's basket. Remus gave a little snort in his sleep.  
"Who's that?" asked Malfoy.  
"That's Pr-" began Harry.  
"A new teacher." interrupted him Jane.  
"Yeah, that." said Harry "What were you saying?" He knew perfectly well that not even Malfoy would pick a fight right in front of a teacher and Malfoy knew perfectly well, that Jane definitely would.  
"C'mon." he muttered to Crabbe and Goyle.  
"Oh and Malfoy?" shouted Jane after them "Loony's already taken. Maybe try something original next time, Madonna." she was just about to go back into the compartment, when the lights in the hallway flickered on and the train began slowing down "See you guys in a second." she said quickly and hurried past Malfoy, back up to the twins to get her things she left there. She assumed, they were about to pull into the station. She just managed to make it into the compartment before the train came to a sudden stop, making her fall into her seat.   
"A little early." noted George, just before, without any warning, the lights on te entire train went out, leaving them in complete darkness.  
"What's going on?" asked Jane, trying to see anything in the dark.  
"Probably just a power outage or something." said Fred.  
"Maybe it's Sirius Black." said one of the other students before breaking out in laughter.  
"If he is-" whispered Jane quietly "He's after Harry... you don't think-"  
"Rubbish." said Fred "I bet it's got to do with the storm or something."  
Jane hoped he was right. She also hoped her father woke up and kept her friends down at the end of the train safe. As they sat and waited, the compartment got colder and colder, and the mood sank with every passing second. Jane felt, as though she just drank an entire bottle of fire-protection potion, the feeling of ice running through her veins.  
She heard a door slide open and a dim light shone in from the hallway. Probably one of the older students. But just as quickly as it appeared, the light died out, and this time, it was their door that slid open. "D-D-Dementors!" cried Draco Malfoy's voice from the door "T-there's D-Dementors on the t-train!" he ran past them and seemed to hide away somewhere behind the seats. Jane never felt less happy in her entire life but she still forced herself to laugh at Malfoy crying like a little child.  
She was sure she could hear her own heartbeat as they all sat in complete silence, waiting for something to happen. Boom, Jane felt as miserable as she did during history of magic classes. Boom, she felt as though she was back in her first year, seeing Voldemort for the first time, his voice in her head feeling like it was cutting through her brain. Boom, she couldn't remember what it felt like to be happy, what it felt like to laugh. Boom, she felt as though all the happiness was stripped away from her. As though she wasn't ever going to smile again.   
It might've as well been the end of the world. In that moment, Jane was sure, the sun would never shine again. The birds would never sing again and all the stars would burn out. It got colder and colder, through the fog of misery, she heard another door slide open, and quiet gasps sounded through the compartment. The entire compartment was holding its breath until suddenly a loud, deep rattling breath was torn right in front of Jane's nose. What had been the feeling of her insides freezing up, turned into a sharp pain. She tried to back away as she felt something cold, sharp and slimey move her face in position.  
She tried to grab something, anything, to get rid of whatever was holding onto her, but she was frozen. She had heard of what the presence of a Dementor did to a person, but this wasn't it anymore. Beyond anything, she was frightened, but a small part in the back of her head wondered, what she had done to provoke the Dementor's kiss.   
She felt her body turn limp and slowly slide out of her seat, until she was only hanging onto the Dementor itself. Her ears filled with loud screaming, and green light flashed past her fluttering eyes. Blurry images of a young witch fighting for her life and failing, passed through her mind, and Voldemort's red eyes stared right into her soul, yet again. She saw the expression on her father's face when she called him a monster and how he desperately tried to explain how he had it under control.  
As far as she knew, Jane didn't have any traumatic memories except for meeting Voldemort, but apparently there was something, deep down, hidden by the veil of time, that was just as traumatic. She knew in that very moment, as she hang from the Dementor's hands, feeling like she was drowning in ice-cold, deep, black water, that that young witch, with her short brown hair, and undefeated will to keep both of them safe, was her mother, dying by the hands of a death-eater, when Jane was just an infant.   
Her head felt as if all her blood was boiling up inside of it, the sound in her ears was deafening, and she felt her soul leaving her body. She once read that people actually found peace in drowning. They didn't actually inhale until right before they blacked out. It was called voluntary apnea. No matter, how badly they were panicking, their instincts of not letting any water in were so strong that they wouldn't open their mouths until they felt like their heads were going to explode. Then, when they finally did let it in, that's when it stopped hurting. It wasn't scary anymore it was peaceful.   
Jane tried to let go. Jane tried to let the water in, to make the pain stop and to find peace in losing her soul but a Dementor's kiss wasn't drowning. There was no water filling her lungs, instead it felt like hot lava running down her throat. Until it didn't. Not because she had found peace, not because she had died, but because the Dementor stopped. She was still blinded by the pain, but her conscious body dropped from its hands to the ground and bright light shone through the fog before her eyes.   
The world around her stayed white and silent for a little longer before her senses returned to her and the world around her erupted in anxious conversation, footsteps, shouts of concern and her father kneeling down next to her.


	3. E U P H O R I A

Remus carried Jane back to the compartment, him, Harry, Ron and Hermione were staying in, ignoring all kinds of questions by anyone, until he was sure she was safe and seated. She nibbled on the chocolate he had given her and looked at Harry, who was as pale as she felt in that moment. Remus seemed furious, not with his daughter, but with the Dementors "Those damned creatures." he muttered angrily, holding her close "Are you okay kid?"  
"Now..." she said quietly. She wasn't of course, but she didn't want to make him worry even more. Her soul was still safely contained within her, and that was all that mattered. She felt, as if she was watching herself from outside her own body. "Why- what did that Dementor want from me? It almost... killed me."  
"Oh, I don't know kid." he said with a calming voice, but Jane sensed, that was a lie. Absently she began packing up her things, and exchanged the comforting leather jacket for her school robes. Her hands were shaking the entire time, and her heart wouldn't stop racing, no matter how much she tried to calm herself down. She had been scared before in her life, not often but she had. But right now she wasn't scared, she was terrified, shaken to the core. She thought to herself that if she were to ever see another Dementor again, she'd pass out on the spot.   
As it turned out, Harry was the first to be affected by the Dementors. It had been so bad for him, he passed out and Remus sent that Dementor away. Jane regretted her stupidity of believing they had arrived at Hogsmeade station so early. She should've stayed right there, with her father, safe, and he wouldn't have given the Dementor a chance to suck out her soul first. The fear and new-born paranoia in her bones was highly insulting to her typical Gryffindor pride. She didn't scare easily, and she definitely didn't allow fear to affect her like this. So why was she shaking like a lap dog?  
She didn't let go of her father's arm for the rest of the ride. She didn't let go when they got into the carriages either, and she hid away under his jacket, when she spotted two Dementors guarding the iron gates. "I can't have people see me like this." she said quietly "What is wrong with me?"  
"That Dementor got you bad, kid." he said, handing her more chocolate "You'll get better, don't worry. Later, you can warm up in the common room and get a good night of sleep. I'll ask Madam Pomfrey for some Dreamless Sleep Potion. Dementor attacks like that tend to be followed by nightmares."  
"I'm glad you're here, dad." she said.  
"Oh no, don't say that." he joked "Maybe the Dementor didn't take your soul and instead gave you one."  
"Hilarious, father." she replied dryly.  
"Listen," he said before they went to leave the coach "I sent an owl telling Professor McGonagall, Harry fell sick on the train. I didn't mention you, I know you wouldn't appreciate that."  
"True."  
"But, if you still feel bad tomorrow, go to Madam Pomfrey, understood?"  
"Yeah, definitely." Jane saw that as a fine opportunity to skip whatever class would interest her the least tomorrow. As soon as they stepped out into the mud, Jane spotted Malfoy picking on Harry and Ron. Usually, she would've interrupted, and picked a fight with him, herself, but while her father walked over to the boys, Jane didn't feel like having a confrontation and just dragged herself into the castle and exhaustedly took her seat in the Great Hall.  
"Man, that Dementor really got you." noticed Fred "Feeling stable?"  
She yawned "Never been better. Snogging a Dementor was on my to do list this year."  
"What do you think it wanted?" asked George "I mean, why would a Dementor try to kill a Hogwarts student? That's a bit odd, isn't it?"  
"Maybe he got wind that she stole my badge." said Percy.  
"What's the matter, pinhead? You got it back, didn't you." she turned back to talk to the twins "Do you think you could put in a good word with Wood for me? I wanna try out for Chaser. At least for substitute."  
"Lupin, us putting in a good word for you? That's like Lucius Malfoy putting in a good word for you-know-who." said Fred "I think Oliver values the opinion of a toilet brush more than ours."  
"Wait," said George "were you gonna try out with a shootingstar or have you got-"  
"Your own broom!" finished Fred "You got a broomstick, Lupin?"  
She nodded excitedly "A Cleansweep Seven. My father got it for me."  
"A Cleansweep Seven, wow." said George "Those are basically as good as the Nimbus Two-Thousand!"  
"I know! I still barely believe it. I can't wait to try it out."  
"What, you haven't yet?" asked Fred "That's just wasteful Lupin. Why don't we meet up at midnight and-"  
"Usually-" interrupted Jane "In a heartbeat. But I think I'll just sleep tonight. I'm a tad exhausted, still."  
"Yeah, forgot about that for a second." he said and looked up to the teacher's table "Who's the new one, by the way?"  
She looked over as well and pretended not to know what he was talking about "What, Hagrid?"  
"No, that new teacher. The one that saved your butt on the train. He seemed to know you. Quite well actually."  
"Oh, that's just the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor." she said swiftly, and luckily Ron interrupted them before anyone could ask any more questions.  
"Can you believe we just got here and McGonagall already dragged Harry and Hermione up to her office?"   
"Why? What does she want?" asked George.  
"Oh, what do I know."   
"I bet it's about the Dementors." said Jane "To make sure, Harry's alright. And maybe she's trying to convince Hermione to drop some of her electives for this year."  
"Yeah, right." scoffed Ron "As if she doesn't full heartedly support that."  
Harry and Hermione joined them in the Hall, once the Sorting was over and Harry filled them in on what McGonagall wanted. As Jane predicted, she was just having Madam Pomfrey check on Harry, and Hermione didn't say a word about what the Professor wanted from her.  
They stopped their conversation when Dumbledore stood up to greet them. "Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast. As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by any tricks or disguises or even Invisibility Cloaks." Jane kicked Harry under the table and he pulled a little grimace.  
"It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the Prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs foul of the Dementors. On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. Firstly Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."  
The applause was rather contained except for the group at the Gryffindor table. Fred, George and Lee howled loudly and though turning incredibly red at all the faces turning to look at her at the mention of the name 'Lupin', Jane put her fingers between her lips and whistled as loudly as possible for her father. He of course looked highly uncomfortable up at the teacher's table and smiled shyly.  
"Look at Snape." whispered Ron "I doubt he likes your father very much, Jane."  
"Like daughter like father." grinned Harry at Snape's expression of utter loathing. Jane and Harry were only too familiar with that particular look, they were usually at the receiving end.  
"As to our second new appointment," continued Dumbledore "well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."  
Hagrid was welcomed with loud, well deserved applause from everyone, except those twatty snobs at the Slytherin table.   
"Well, I think that's everything of importance. Let the feast begin!"  
A rich supper magically appeared, filling all the golden cups and plates with everything they could possibly ask for, but before Jane could help herself to at least a busload of chips, she felt three of her friends staring at her.  
"Professor Lupin?" asked Lee Jordan.  
"As in, Lupin like Jane Lupin?" added George.  
"As in, your father, Lupin?" finished Fred.  
"Oh no, no." she said "Lupin, as in distant relative. Third cousin of my grandfather's second wives adopted son-"  
"No, he's her father alright." said Ron, already stuffing his mouth.  
"Wow-" said Lee.  
"Your father really blew that Dementor away like a peck of dust." said George.  
"That is awesome." said Fred "I bet he'll let us get away with everything."  
"I bet he won't." said Jane "If he gets wind of even half the crap we pull, I'll be grounded until I'm old enough to retire."  
After the feast, Jane followed Harry, Ron and Hermione up to the teacher's table, where they congratulated Hagrid on his new position. She took Harry by the arm for a second "Can you catch the password for me and wait outside? I'm gonna go with my father for a second to get a potion."  
"Sure, no problem." he said and Jane thankfully pat his arm before following Remus up to the hospital wing.  
"Hello, Madam Pomfrey?" he asked, stepping into the hospital wing.  
"Oh Remus, dear!" she greeted him, before giving Jane the typical what have you done side-eye "How good to see you, boy. I hear you're the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. You have no idea, just how glad I am to have someone with qualification in that position, after that fool Lockhart."  
Jane stared at her in disbelief. Not once had Madam Pomfrey been so nice to her. You break your nose once, while sneaking out at night to play Quidditch and have a bad reputation forever.   
"I was wondering if you have some dreamless sleep potion in stock?" asked her father.  
"Are you having nightmares?"  
"No, not me. Jane had an incident on the train-"  
"With a Dementor?" asked Madam Pomfrey and took Jane along to sit her down on one of the beds and take her temperature "Child, you're ice-cold."  
"I'm fine." said Jane "But Professor Lupin says, after something like that, people get bad nightmares. I'd like to be well rested for class tomorrow."  
Madam Pomfrey ignored that and took Jane's pulse "Mr Potter was already in a bad condition but this, what on earth happened to you?"  
"The Dementor's Kiss." said Remus "He must've mistaken her, and attacked. I got rid of him in time, but the damage has been done."  
"Oh, Remus, the kid can't go to classes tomorrow, she should definitely get some rest."  
"Hey!" said Jane "I'll have an entire year to not go to classes, but I can't miss the first day of the term. I'm fine, honestly."  
"Miss Lup-" Madam Pomfrey's eyes went wide and her eyes darted between Jane and her father "The nightmare child is yours, Remus?"   
He bit his cheek with visible amusement "Good to say she's made a name for herself. Yes, the nightmare child is my daughter."  
"Oh dear lord help us all." muttered Madam Pomfrey "No wonder the way she turned out."  
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Jane "My father's like a six on the lame scale."  
"Again, thank you Jane." said Remus.  
"Oh, he and his little friends were a force to be reckoned with during their time here." Madam Pomfrey mixed up a few ingredients in a small cup "Gave poor Minerva hell."  
Jane furrowed her eyebrows "You must be mistaking Remus, dear for someone else then. Whatchu cooking?"  
"Dreamless sleep potion." she said "Won't take too long. So Remus, what have you been up to? How's the Lycanthropy treating you?"  
"Hard to get a job, even harder to keep one, but I've got it under control."  
Jane wondered how exactly Madam Pomfrey knew of her father's condition. As far as she knew, he tried to keep it as secret as possible. When Madam Pomfrey was done brewing her the potion, Jane wished her and her father a good night and headed up to Gryffindor tower, where Harry as leaning against the wall, trying to balance his wand on his nose. "There you finally are." he said "What kind of potion did you get?"  
"For nightmares." she said quietly "Completely unnecessary, of course, but my father said, after the Dementor thingy, I might have a bit of a rough night. So, what's the password?"  
"Fortuna Major." said Harry, half to Jane and half to the portrait of the fat lady, and the door swung open for them to crawl through the portrait hole. Some of the usual chatter died down when they entered the common room, and Jane felt Harry next to her tense up at the eyes staring at them. By now, almost the entire school knew he fainted when the Dementor came to his compartment, and the entire school knew that Jane wasn't only the new teacher's daughter, but almost got killed by a Dementor. That was sure to give them more publicity than usual.  
She awkwardly raised a hand as sort of a greeting before immediately going to hide away in her dorm. Crookshanks left Hermione's bed and jumped into Jane's lap instead "I bet you were terrified as well, weren't you?" she asked the cat quietly and began stroking his soft fur.  
"Hey, you." said Hermione softly, closing the door behind her "Are you doing okay?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."  
"Bet you are." she said with the same soft voice "Can I ask you about it? What the Dementor did... or do you not want to talk about that?"  
"What exactly would you like to know?"  
"The Dementor's Kiss, it's the act of having your soul sucked out, right?"  
"Yeah."  
"I mean, what did that feel like?"  
"It was really painful, and I kind of felt like I was drowning, there was no air and I was completely cold. And it makes you relive your worst memories and trauma, which luckily, I don't have a lot of, so that wasn't really all that bad. But it really, really hurt and I'm still cold and shaky. Overall I rate it two stars. Not much fun but definitely an experience."  
"Why do you think it attacked you?"  
"I have no idea. But I think my father might know more... he's definitely keeping something from me."  
Hermione smiled sweetly "Listen, you get some sleep now. I'll tell Lavender and Parvati to be quiet when we go to bed."  
"Oh that's alright." Jane held up the potion "With this baby, I'll be sleeping like a baby."  
"Dreamless Sleep Potion?" she asked curiously.  
"Yeah, have some fun for me, will you."  
"Sure." she gave Crookshanks a treat and went back upstairs. Jane got changed, washed the cold sweat off her face, downed the potion and crawled under her warm blanket. Crookshanks lay down next to her and with her softly scratching his ears, he purred her to sleep.  
When Jane woke up the next day, the sun was already standing high in the sky and with a glance at the clock she realized it was already noon. "Oh crap!" she shot out of her bead and carelessly threw on her robes and ran outside into the halls. It was about time for lunch, the bell would ring in about ten minutes and as she took her time to walk down the stairs, she realized, that the calm night she had, didn't have any positive impact on the way she was feeling. She was still cold and uncomfortable. With an annoyed groan she changed directions and went to the hospital wing instead.  
"Suppose it's not all fine." she said when Madam Pomfrey spotted her "My father said, if I still felt bad by today I should come by. Can you fix me before fifth? I already slept in."  
"Oh don't worry about class right now." said Madam Pomfrey, surprisingly nicely "Sit down, I'll see what I can do." Jane sat still while Madam Pomfrey felt her forehead, her pulse and checked her eyes. There was something deeply humiliating about missing the first day by being sick. She didn't even know what classes she was missing out on. Missing out on charms, potions or transfigurations would be alright she thought but what if it was one of the new subjects? She'd really been looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures, and now, with Hagrid as their teacher it seemed like a shame to miss it. Or what if she missed her father's first lesson, he'd understand, but she'd be thoroughly disappointed. She'd also been looking forward to finding out what kind of nutter would be teaching Divination class.  
"What's that?" asked Jane when Madam Pomfrey handed her a bottle with a sunshine yellow liquid, little rainbows dancing around it wherever the sun shone through.  
"We figured with the Dementors around you kids might be feeling a little under the weather so Professor Snape was as kind as to brew up some Euphoria for you."  
"Oh hell no, Snivellus brewed that? I don't feel like getting poisoned today."  
"Don't talk like that." warned Madam Pomfrey "It's perfectly fine Euphoria. He even added some peppermint to balance out occasional side effects."  
"What side effects?"  
"Just excessive singing and nose-tweaking."  
"Ah, of course." said Jane, still eyeing the liquid critically.  
"It usually induces a sense of inexplicable, irrational happiness upon the drinker but I take it, in your current condition it'll just get you back on track, so you've got nothing to worry about."  
"It's not like I've got anything to lose." muttered Jane and drank the minty potion. For a second she felt just as miserable but then a loud giggle escaped her lips. She felt incredibly warm inside, and the sun shining in through the windows felt like a soft blanked on her face. When she woke up, the world around her looked like one of those old movies in black and white, but now, every colour brought undeniable beauty with it. "Thank you!" she said quickly and jumped up to go outside.  
"Where are you going?"  
"Look outside Madam Pomfrey! Look! I'll touch the grass and smell the air, oh it's such a beautiful day, don't you think? Can't you hear the birds singing? What would I be doing inside on a day as fine as this one?"  
Madam Pomfrey looked at the empty pottle and whistled quietly "That was a very strong potion, apparently. Miss Lupin, it will wear off eventually, don't get used to this."  
Jane shook her head "I can't see how I could ever be anything but happy. Life is too beautiful." she skipped out of the room and down the stairs.  
"Ah, Miss Lupin." said McGonagall coming towards her "I missed you in class. Now, Miss Granger said you were sick, but you seem more than fine."  
Jane nodded "Madam Pomfrey gave me this stuff, Euphoria. I'm looking forward to my next class with you, Professor."  
In the Great Hall she found Harry, Ron and Hermione "I hope one of you got my timetable and can tell me what I missed?"  
Harry nodded and handed her a piece of parchment with her classes "We had Divination-"  
"And Harry got the Grim." said Ron darkly.  
"Which means nothing." said Hermione "Professor McGonagall said so during Transfiguration." Jane sighed with relief. She wouldn't have class with her father until tomorrow and Care of Magical Creatures was next. "You look better." noted Hermione.  
"Got a potion." said Jane and inhaled deeply "Boy am I starving." she sat down and began piling food on her plate.  
"Jane, are you sure you're okay?" asked Hermione, inspecting Jane's face carefully.  
"I've never been better." smiled Jane "I could run a marathon right now."  
"Ah." said Harry. Jane could have sworn, that she'd never tasted anything as delicious as the pumpkin juice or the fresh fruit on her plate. And when they stepped outside, walking down to Hagrid's Hut for the lesson, she was positively overwhelmed by how wonderful the gras smelled. After the rain yesterday, the air was so fresh and clean and every breath had something magical.  
"What did I miss?" she asked Harry. Ron and Hermione were awfully quiet and didn't speak a single word which was odd compared to their usual banter.  
"Oh, Hermione doesn't believe in the Grim, Ron says she's just upset she's not good at Divination, except he called her rubbish at it, so I suppose you know how Hermione felt about that-" he said.  
"What's the Grim anyways?"  
"The omen of death. Apparently I'm going to die." said Harry casually.  
"Oh well if it's just that." said Jane sarcastically "What exactly did McGonagall say about that?"  
"Just that it's nothing to worry about and that Professor Trelawney predicts death every year, to keep things interesting."  
"And? Do you believe that?"  
"Oh, I don't know. My cup was full of true things. And there was a thing that happened during the summer, right after I ran away from the Dursleys. There was this... big- I think it was a dog."  
"So?"  
"The Grim, it's a big, black dog. Ron says it's not a good sign I saw one in real life and got one in my cup."  
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." said Jane, worrying very much "Divination was just supposed to be an easy O. But maybe you'll die by the teeth of these books." she held up her copy of the Book of Monsters.  
"Oh no-" said Harry suddenly and pointed at three people walking in front of them "Class with the Slytherins."  
"Poor Hagrid." whispered Jane "Maybe we can get him to feed Malfoy to one of his creatures."  
"If he doesn't do it, I will." said Ron "It's about time that slimey git learns his lesson."  
"Yes?" Jane smirked viciously "How about you visit your old friend Aragog and give him a little peace offering?" she stepped a little closer to Ron and lightly ran her finger over his neck "I mean spiders are just the sweetest, aren't they?" her fingers crawled up his neck into his hair and he automatically began shaking and slapping himself in the back of his head.  
"I'll take you and Malfoy." he muttered, still nervously running his hands over his neck and through his hair.   
Hermione remained just as quiet for the rest of the way, giving Ron an occasional dirty look, until they arrived down at Hagrid's Hut, where he was already waiting for them by his door, Fang, his giant boarhound sitting next to him. As soon as Fang spotted Jane between the rest of the students he ran to her side and let her scratch his ears while Hagrid greeted them and had them follow him to somewhere outside an empty paddock.  
"Everyone gather around the fence here!" said Hagrid "That's it- make sure yeh can see. Now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books-"  
"How?" asked Draco Malfoy and Jane considered telling Fang to 'fetch'.  
"Eh?" said Hagrid.  
"How do we open our books?" Malfoy took out his copy which was bound shut with a rope and many others followed his example.  
"Hasn'- hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" asked Hagrid dejected and the class shook their heads. "Yeh've got to stroke 'em. Look..." he took Hermione's book, took off the Spellotape and ran his finger down the book's spine.  
"Oh, how silly we've all been!" said Malfoy "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"  
"I... I thought they were funny." said Hagrid.  
"Oh, tremendou-"  
"I think they are." said Jane before Malfoy could finish tormenting Hagrid "It's very interesting Hagrid, are they bewitched or are they actually alive?"  
"It is actually a fully sentient book." said Hagrid, his face lighting up a bit.  
"Brilliant."   
"Oh yeah." sneered Malfoy "Very wi-"  
"Hey Malfoy, if you don't wanna choke on my fists you better shut up now." said Jane, secretly hoping he had something else to say just so she'd have a good excuse to beat him up again, but he stayed quiet. "Right then, Hagrid, sorry for the interruption. Continue." she stepped back and Harry gave her a subtle fist bump.  
"Right-" said Hagrid "Well, yeh've got yer books an'... an' ... now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get em. Hang on..."  
"God, this place is going to the dogs." said Malfoy once Hagrid was out of sight "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him-"  
"Shut up Malfoy." said Harry.  
"Careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you-"  
"Ooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown pointing down the paddock, where Hagrid appeared with a dozen of fascinating creatures. They had the typical build of horses except with the head, wings and front legs of a giant eagle.  
"Are those Hippogriffs?" asked Jane excitedly before Hagrid could even come to a stop.  
"Tha''s righ'" he said loudly "They're Hippogriffs alright. Beau'iful, aren't they?"  
"Brilliant." agreed Jane, taking a cautious step forward to get a better look. Their feathers and hair were glowing in the afternoon sun, stormy grey, a pinkish roam, gleaming chestnut and inky black shone brightly off the creatures. One of them stared at her with its bright orange eyes and Jane quickly lowered her head and took a small step back.  
"So," said Hagrid "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer..." Harry, Ron and Hermione cautiously joined Jane at the fence. "Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is they're proud. Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do. Yeh always wait for the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's polite, see? Yeh walk towards him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt." Jane didn't doubt that.  
"Right- who wants to go first?"  
Jane looked at Harry with pleading eyes "Let's do it together."  
"Are you mental?"  
"No one?" asked Hagrid and Harry sighed loudly.  
"We'll do it." he said.  
"Oooh, no, Harry," said Lavender and Parvati "remember your tea leaves!"  
Harry ignored them and joined Jane in climbing over the fence. "Good kids!" said Hagrid "Let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."  
"Many wizards own Hippogriffs." explained Jane quietly "It was all in the Fantastic Beasts book. They're not dangerous."  
"Yeah, unless they don't like you." muttered Harry "Why exactly are you dragging me along?"  
"Because I don't want to do it alone?"  
"Why not? Even dragons are soft on you. I don't have that kind of luck."  
"Oh shut up Harry Pooper. You'll love it, look how gentle he looks." she pointed at the Hippogriff Hagrid led closer to them.  
"Easy, now, one at a time. Jane you go first." said Hagrid "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink- Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much..."  
"Gentle." muttered Harry behind her and Jane tried to keep a calm expression, staring right into Buckbeak's orange eye.  
"Tha's it, now bow." said Hagrid and Jane bent down into a long, deep bow and glanced up to the Hippogriff who lowered his own head. "Well done, Jane! Said Hagrid "Get to him, then Harry, yeh do the same."  
Jane carefully joined Buckbeak and watched Harry stare at him and lower his head "You know Buckbeak," she whispered, patting his back "that's my best friend right there. It would be a shame if something happened to him. Like a kick in the head for example." in response the Hippogriff lowered his head and bent his knees again and Hagrid told Harry to approach as well. "See, that wasn't too bad, right?"   
Harry was a little pale in the face as he patted Buckbeak, who seemed to enjoy the attention "What did you tell him?"  
"That we're friends and I'd appreciate if he didn't kill you."   
"Ah."  
"Righ' then. I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!" said Hagrid "Two ligh'weights like yourselves, yeh can share."  
"Hm?" Harry's eyes went wide and Jane excitedly ran her hand up Buckbeak's beak.  
"That'll be fun." she said.  
"We'll die." said Harry.  
"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that."  
"Nobody would." said Jane to the Hippogriff and waited for Harry to take a steady seat, before sitting down closely behind him.  
"What am I supposed to hold on to?" whispered Harry "He's all feathers!"  
"Just right there." said Jane "You put your legs there and then hold on to the neck like this-"  
Harry moved forward until he could easily place his arms and legs around Buckbeak's neck and Jane held on to his shoulders.  
"Go on then!" roared Hagrid slapping Buckbeak's back and with one flap of his giant wings, Buckbeak rose into the air. A sudden wave of adrenaline shot through Jane's veins and she couldn't help but giggle hysterically as they shot higher towards the sky.  
"What are you laughing about?" asked Harry, who was holding onto his dear life.  
"This is amazing-" said Jane and freed one hand to stroke the Hippogriff's back "Buckbeak, you are amazing!" he happily shook his head and gained a bit of speed. Up there, over the tree tops, the wind brushing against her face, Jane felt completely free. She tightened her legs around the Creature's core and let go of Harry's shoulder to stretch her arms out.  
"What are you doing?"   
"Try it-" she grinned "You don't get that on a broom."  
Reluctantly Harry let go of the neck and held his hands out to play with the wind. "This- this isn't half bad." he said, adjusting to the movements.  
"Told you! Hey, Buckbeak, how about a little change of course?"  
"What?" asked Harry nervously as Buckbeak flew away from the paddock and headed for the large field "We can't just-"  
"Who's gonna stop us?" she was thoroughly enjoying the flight and when Buckbeak spread his wings and began gliding through the air, so did Harry. He cheered loudly and embraced the wind with a wide grin. "That's all I wanted." said Jane "Buckbeak, we can go back now, before we get in trouble."  
Buckbeak changed his course again and Harry and Jane held on to him when he landed back in the paddock. The landing wasn't quite as smooth as the flying but the two children managed to not fall off his back.  
"Good work you two!" roared Hagrid through the cheers of their classmates, and they awkwardly slid off Buckbeak' back "Was worried fer a second when i los' sight o' yeh though."  
"Oh that was nothing." said Jane "Up and down the field until Harry was having an appropriate amount of fun."  
"I sure was." said Harry, still slightly panting and walking over to the fence to lean against.  
"OK, who else wants a go?" said Hagrid, and this time the rest of the class climbed into the paddock. Harry and Jane set down on the ground and threw Fang a ball while watching their classmates bow for their assigned Hippogriffs.  
"I don't understand how you do it." said Harry, shaking his head "How on earth do animals always understand what you're saying to them?"  
"Oh they barely do. They're all trained. Of course Buckbeak would understand when someone tells him what to do. Just like horses-"  
"I don't think you understand how horses work." said Harry, wiping some of Fang's slobber of his pants.  
"Hey, Fang." said Jane "Why don't you tap-dance for us and tell us how the weather is going to be tomorrow?" in response Fang just looked very confused and awkwardly toddled back and forth "See? Now Fang, sit." Fang immediately sat down and panted excitedly, drooling a little more on Harry's trousers "Good boy, Fang! They listen to what they know."  
"Right, can you tell him to swallow instead of drooling all over me?" he wiped more of the slobber off his clothes and smeared it all over Jane's arm.  
"You're disgusting, Pooper." she frowned "Don't make me tell Fang to bite your head off." she rubbed Fang's ginormous head and he happily wagged his tail.  
"This is very easy." Malfoy's loud voice caught both their attention and they looked over to where Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were standing with Buckbeak "I knew it must have been, if these two morons could do it... I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you? Are you, you ugly great prude?"  
"Malfoy no!" Jane jumped up and tried to make it in time to pull him away but Buckbeak landed a powerful kick against Malfoy's elbow. He let out a loud, high-pitched scream. "Shush, shush-" said Jane, keeping Buckbeak from landing another kick "Calm down now, he's the ugly prude." she placed her hand between Buckbeak's eyes and he calmed down enough for Hagrid to put the collar back around his neck and strain him away. "What were you thinking, you idiot?" she fired at Malfoy, who lay on the ground, blood shining on his robes.  
"I'm dying!" he yelled "I'm dying-"  
"You're not dying you fool." Jane kneeled down and waved her wand "Lenio." The pain in Malfoy's face disappeared and he seemed to relax a little only for Jane to punch him in his shoulder "DON'T YOU LISTEN! Hagrid said to NOT insult them! Are you deaf? You bloody idiot! I wouldn't mind if he had killed you right now, but you could get Hagrid in serious tro-" she narrowed her eyes at him "Oh you disgusting little weasel, that's exactly what you were planning, right?" with another wave of her wand all the pain shot back into Malfoy's eyes and she backed away. He didn't deserve her to spare him.  
"Someone help me-" said Hagrid "Gotta get him outta here-"  
"Oh, I'd be glad to." said Jane quietly so only Harry could hear "Might push him off a cliff though."  
After the class, Jane angrily made her way to find her father's chambers "If I killed someone-" she asked, storming in through the door "Would you come visit me in Azkaban?"  
"Ah, you had a great day then?" he asked calmly, polishing his wand "I'm not quite certain about the visiting arrangements at Azkaban. So, what exactly happened?"  
"We had Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid's very first day as a teacher and it was a great lesson, Harry and I got to fly a Hippogriff-"  
"You did?" asked Remus with worry "That doesn't sound safe..."  
"It's perfectly safe, but that's not the point. Before we got to go anywhere near the Hippogriffs, Hagrid told us to not insult them, because they're very proud creatures and might just kill us over it. Now guess what that slimy git Malfoy did-"  
"I'll just risk it and say he insulted one?"  
"EXACTLY!" she said angrily "He got kicked bad and you know he's going to tell his father. My father will hear about this, my father's going to have a fit when I tell him, my father's an arrogant piece of shit just like me and he's going to get Hagrid in trouble!"  
"That doesn't sound good." agreed Remus "But you are all witnesses, aren't you. You were all there when Hagrid told you to not insult them, and you saw Malfoy ignore that advice, right? I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen?"  
"Are you kidding? Malfoy's a third year student who got trampled by a Hippogriff. Who d'you think the ministry is going to side with?"  
"Oh- yes that might be a problem."  
"If Hagrid gets sacked because of that... I'll personally take the liberty of snapping Malfoy's neck."  
"I'd prefer if you didn't. It'll work out, I'm telling you Dumbledore wouldn't allow anything to happen to Hagrid because of that."  
Jane exhaled sharply to calm her nerves "How was your first day then? Any drama on your side?"  
"Nothing. It was a quiet day, but I think I made a good first impression."  
"That's good. So, what are we dealing with tomorrow?"  
"Oh, you'll see."  
"Just making sure nobody's gonna lose their arm over it."  
"If you do the spell right, you won't."


	4. B O G G A R T S

Draco Malfoy didn't return until the next morning when they were already halfway through their double potion "I could take him." said Jane quietly "Beat him up, throw him in the Black Lake and let the merpeople take care of him."  
"Hagrid's really upset." said Hermione "And look at Malfoy. It's all an act. He's fine."  
"Obviously. He loves the attention, and suppose screwing up Hagrid's life is the cherry on top." Jane hated the way Malfoy carried himself. That arrogant smile on his face with the occasional pained pout when Pansy Parkinson checked on him. Jane didn't know much about Pansy except that she could be really nice when Malfoy and his gang weren't around. Malfoy set down his cauldron right next to the four of them "Sir," he called "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm-"  
"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him." said Snape.  
"There's nothing wrong with your arm." hissed Ron.  
"Weasley, you heard Professor Snape, cut up these roots."  
Deep down in her stomach, a hot ball of anger built up and Jane restrained herself from leaping across the table and slamming Malfoy's head into a cauldron with finished Shrinking Solution until it'd be the size of a grape. Ron was carelessly chopping the roots to different sizes and Jane's grip around her stool tightened when Malfoy spoke again.  
"Professor, Weasley's mutilating my roots, sir."  
"I'll mutilate you." muttered Jane under her breath, grinding her teeth aggressively.  
"Change roots with Malfoy, Weasley." said Snape.  
"But sir-!"  
"Now."   
Defeated, Ron showed his roots across the table before taking his knife back up.  
"And, sir, I'll need this Shrivelfig skinned." said Malfoy.  
Jane flinched a little and began imagining herself jumping at him, and punching his head right into the ground. She's get detention, or expelled but it would've been worth it. She quietly continued chopping her roots and caterpillars, trying to imagine Malfoy's fingers in their place, when suddenly she had an idea. From her bag she snuck a carefully cut piece of Erumpent horn into her pocket. When Malfoy began stirring his potion, she placed the piece in her palm, and waving her wand under the table, hidden from Snape, she let the Erumpent horn fall into Malfoy's cauldron. For a second, nothing happened and he didn't even notice anything fell into his cauldron. Jane used that time to hide her wand, close her bag and pretend to be focussed on her own potion, before a loud explosion went off, painting Malfoy's entire face pitch black and burning his eyebrows off.  
Jane tried to look as shocked as the rest of the classroom, but couldn't hide her grin when he began screaming loudly. "Who did that?" asked Snape loudly, helping Malfoy to clean the soot off his face "Who is responsible for this? Weasley? Potter?"  
"Last time I checked-" said Jane "Malfoy still had a working arm left and two working eyes left. Are you suggesting he just blindly threw into his cauldron whatever Potter and Weasley cut up for him? Because I'd argue, that's Malfoy's fault then."  
"It was you, wasn't it Lupin." he said with the usual hatred in his voice.  
"I got a Troll on my last potions exam Professor. I'm not exactly a potions genius who'd know what to mix into shrinking solution to have it blow up like that." she really wasn't, but everything would blow up if Erumpent horn was added. That was its only purpose. But Snape didn't know she was carrying around Erumpent horn, so he couldn't help but agree that she wasn't nearly clever enough. Instead he wanted to blame Hermione, but she was so focussed on her potion, she barely even heard the explosion.   
"How'd you do it?" asked Harry once they settled down for lunch.  
"Do what?"  
"Blow up Malfoy's potion like that."  
"Oh, you did?" asked Fred proudly "Did you use the horn?"  
"Of course I used the horn." said Jane with a grin "You should've seen him. His eyebrows are completely gone."  
"Nice." said George.  
"What horn?" asked Harry curiously.  
"Oh, Erumpent horn." explained Jane "The fluid inside the horn makes everything it comes in contact with explode." she took out a bag with the carefully cut chips "We got this at Diagon Alley. They're coated with some protective fluid and once the potion melts that away, it's kaboom."  
Fred and George made explosion noises and gestured a bomb going off. "Brilliant." said Harry "Can you do that every lesson?"  
"Ugh, I'd love to. I wanted to stab him today, I really did."  
"You're not alone." said Ron "I kept imagining his precious daisy roots were his fingers."  
"Oh my god, same." grinned Jane.  
"I saw his face on every caterpillar." added Harry.  
"We had class with your father today, Lupin." said Lee, who sat down next to George "He's amazing."  
Fred and George nodded "He knew what he was talking about, unlike Lockhart."  
"And wasn't scared of his own shadow, like Quirrell."  
"A real catch."  
"No need to tell me." she said "But I'm glad you think so."  
She might not have been too fond of her father teaching at Hogwarts, but Jane was very glad that people thought rather fondly of him. And personally she couldn't wait to see him teach. She always felt her father was a very unique and interesting person, and she hoped his classes wouldn't be any different.  
"How is it fair that Lupin of all people gets to have class with her father?" she heard Seamus Finnigan whisper to Dean Thomas "It'll be easy O's all year... for that slacker." Jane knew too well that not a word of that was true. Her father loved her of course, but he wouldn't mind giving her as many bad grades and as much detention as she deserved. That was the real learning experience, he said. She chose to ignore Seamus and instead fell back a little until she was walking with Neville.  
"You okay, Nev?"  
"Fine." he said quietly, holding his toad closely.  
"Listen, what Snape did was disgusting. If Hermione wouldn't have helped you-"  
"Yeah, who knows what would've happened." said Neville sadly "I didn't mean for us to lose any points when I asked her to help, y'know?"  
"Oh, we all know. Snape's a jerk, my father could sing you a song about that. But I thought you might find this funny." she fished Lee's planner, by now filled with the Trevor comics, from her bag and gave it to Neville.  
"What's that?"  
"Oh we were just playing around on the train. But I figured since Trevor is the main character, you deserve it."  
He opened the planner and began looking at the different pictures with a faint smile "Trevor the super-toad."  
"Yeah, maybe that would've happened if Hermione wouldn't have helped you today. Or maybe-" she said mysteriously "It's already happening. Ooooooh."  
He grinned a little more "Thanks Jane, I bet he's honoured."  
"No doubt. And listen, if you ever want to talk about Snape- or anything for that matter- I'll gladly have an open ear. I know he doesn't exactly make it easy for you." She wasn't usually the softest person but today her usual adoration for Neville was joined by genuine pity. Snape pouring the Shrinking Solution on Trevor, just to teach Neville a lesson was beyond cruel, and he looked completely shaken up since then.   
When they arrived in the classroom, Remus wasn't there yet "Of course we couldn't possibly have two Lupins on time." sneered Seamus and Jane held up her middle-finger while searching for the class books, some parchment and her quill.   
Shortly after, her father entered the room and put his briefcase on the teacher's desk "Good afternoon." he said, and suddenly Jane felt all her blood rush into her face. "Would you please put all your books in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will only need your wands."  
He sounded so much like a teacher Jane suddenly wondered what she'd address him as. What would he call her if she raised her hand, would she have to raise her hand- of course on the train he called Harry by his first name. Jane hoped he'd keep calling all students by their first names, but definitely only the Gryffindors. The idea of him calling Malfoy 'Draco' made her cringe.  
"Right then, if you'd follow me." he lead them out of the classroom.  
"What's he planning?" asked Ron quietly.  
"I've got no idea." admitted Jane.  
"What, he didn't tell you?" asked Harry.  
"Why would he do-"  
"Loony, loony Lupin." Jane looked up to see Peeves the Poltergeist stuffing a keyhole with gum. "Loony, loony Lupin, loony, loony, loopy Lupin-" Jane rolled her eyes, ready to fire an insult at Peeves, but much to her surprise he seemed to be talking to her father, who was just smiling calmly.  
"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole, if I were you, Peeves. Mr Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms." with no regard for his words, Peeves simply blew a loud, wet raspberry and Remus sighed quietly before taking out his wand "This is a useful little spell." he announced to the class "Please watch closely." Jane leaned over Harry's shoulder to get better sight at her father raising his wand, say "Waddiwasi!" and point it at Peeves.  
The gum shot out of the keyhole and right up Peeves left nostril, who zoomed away, cursing.  
"Cool, sir!" said Dean Thomas.  
"Thank you, Dean." said Remus and Jane sighed with relief "Shall we proceed?"  
"That was awesome." whispered Harry "He got Peeves good."  
Jane's face was hot with pride and she smiled at her father when he turned around to see if they were all still following him. He led them all the way into the staff-room, which was empty, except for Snape. Jane knew too well that her father and Snape went to school together, and didn't really like each other. Remus didn't talk much about his time at Hogwarts, but when it came to Snape, he couldn't help himself but make mocking remarks whenever Jane would bring him up.  
"Leave it open, Lupin." said the grease-head "I'd rather not witness this." he got up and strode past them "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."  
"Suppose if Neville messes up, Professor Lupin can just kill his toad to teach him a lesson." said Jane "That seems like a solid teaching method."  
"Oh-" Snape's face turned into an ugly grimace "I don't think I have to warn you about the dumbest of the lot. After all that one's your daughter, right Lupin?"  
'Let's see just how dumb.' she thought to herself. "Incarcerous." she whispered under her breath and carefully waved her wand to have ropes crawl around Snape's feet.   
"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," said Remus, fully ignoring Snape's cheap blow at Jane "and I am sure he will perform admirably."  
Snape's lip curled, and just as he was about to leave, Jane tightened the ropes to have them snap shut around his ankles, and he awkwardly stumbled out of the door. He turned around, glowing red in the face but Jane quickly slammed the door shut with another wave of her wand and locked it. "Man, what a clumsy guy." she said innocently.  
She could tell her father was trying his hardest to restrain a smile "Jane-"  
"You heard what he said, I'm by far the dumbest of the lot, Professor. No way I could've done that."  
He sighed audibly "Good old Snape, always tripping over his own feet. That's what happens when you're too busy picking on students to watch your step. Now then," he motioned them to follow them and led them to the old wardrobe, Harry, Ron and Jane hid in last year when they found out Ginny was taken by the monster. Except this time, something seemed alive in the wardrobe and it gave a sudden wobble, making multiple students jump backwards. "Nothing to worry about. There's a Boggart in there. Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces. Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboard under sinks-" he eyed Jane "all sorts of hiding spaces..."  
He of course was referring to the secret underfloor storage, Jane discovered in her bedroom when she was eight. She hid all kinds of illegal stuff in that storage, until one day, the floorboard just wouldn't stop shaking. She was afraid one of her fireworks had gone off, but instead she opened the space up and Chucky the Murderdoll crawled out of her floor. She'd never screamed that loudly in her entire life and after her father had gotten rid of the Boggart, he grounded Jane for the excessive amount of dangerous and forbidden things hiding in her room and for watching Child's Play without his permission. A heavy shudder moved through her entire body at the memory of that creepy doll crawling towards her, trying to stab he foot.  
"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?"  
Hermione's hand shot up into the air "It's a shape-shifter. It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."  
"Couldn't have put it better myself. So the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears. This means, that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"  
"Er- because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"  
"Precisely. It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a Boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a Boggart make that very mistake- tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening. The charm that repels a Boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a Boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing."  
Back when he took care of Jane's Chucky Boggart, he couldn't make it change it's shape because the bloody doll speeding towards his screaming daughter was incredibly hilarious to him. However he had the decency to get rid of the knife before blowing it up.  
"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please... riddikulus!"  
"Riddikulus!" said the class.  
"Good. Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."  
Neville walked forward, shaking violently from head to toe.  
"Right, Neville. First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"  
Neville simply mouthed the words, with no sound escaping his lips.  
"Didn't catch that, Neville, sorry."  
Neville looked around nervously and whispered "Professor Snape."  
Nearly everyone laughed but for Jane it just fuelled her hatred for the professor. Last year her and Neville would sometimes stay up for hours past bed time and in the common room he'd tell her about a group of deatheaters, who tortured both his parents into insanity. It was nothing that came lightly to him and he cried a little when he told Jane about them. Yet, instead of being scared of those deatheaters, he found his professor more frightening. She always felt very sorry for him when Snape was bullying him, but never figured it was that bad for him.   
"Professor Snape... hmmm..." said Remus "Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"  
"Er- yes." said Neville "But- I don't want the Boggart to turn into her, either."  
"No, no, you misunderstand me. I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"  
"Well... always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress... green, normally... and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."  
"And a handbag?"  
"A big red one."  
"Right then. Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"  
Jane leaned against one of the tables behind her and began wondering what her Boggart would look like this time. Not Chucky, no anymore. The girl from the exorcist came to mind, the way she crawled down the stairs like a spider- or even worse, Stephen King's It. She wondered if It was just a Boggart itself. But Jane really loved scary movies, and nothing really frightened her anymore. What did frighten her was Voldemort and recently, Dementors joined the group of terrifying beings. She really didn't want either Voldemort, nor a Dementor to suddenly appear in the classroom. She also really disliked moths. Maybe her Boggart would be a ginormous moth. That idea made her just as uncomfortable, but at least she could think of something funny to do with it. Someone poked her arm and Jane shot out of her thoughts.  
"I asked if everyone was ready." said her father "Are you ready, Jane?"  
"Er- yeah. Sorry- Professor." she said awkwardly and her face began heating up again.  
"Perfect. Alright then, on the count of three, Neville." he said, walking back to the wardrobe and pointing his wand at its handle "One- two- three- now!"  
The door burst open and Snape stepped out of the wardrobe, looking just as mean as always.  
"R-riddikulus!" said Neville and they heard a crack. Instead of his usual bat-like black robes, Snape was wearing the clothes, Neville described earlier. Everyone laughed loudly and the Snape Boggart was visibly confused.  
"Parvati! Forward!" said Remus and then quieter he said "Jane, come here for a second please."  
Jane dragged over to him, ready to get in trouble for messing with Snape or not paying attention "Can you yell at me when nobody's listening?"  
"I'm not- Seamus!" he said "I don't want to yell at you. Tell me, how terrified were-" a loud, wailing shriek filled the entire room and Jane spun around to see Seamus face off a Banshee.  
"Riddikulus!" he shouted and the Banshee lost her voice.  
"Lavender!" said Remus "How scared were you of the Dementor?" he asked quickly before calling up the next student.  
"Terrified." admitted Jane "Why, d'you think my Boggart might be one?"  
"Exactly. Unless you can- Fay! Unless you can say with certainty that you won't think of a Dementor, I don't want you to get anywhere near that Boggart, alright? It's confused!" he said to the rest of the class "We're getting there! Dean!" he turned back to Jane "I know you could do it, but just stand back for this one, yes?"  
She sighed and nodded before moving to the back of the room where she waited until the lesson was over. "How'd I do?" he asked sitting down on the table next to Jane.  
"Brilliantly." she muttered "Thought Harry's Boggart was a Dementor as well?"  
"Actually I was thinking of Lord Voldemort."  
"How are we gonna learn how to do that spell if we-"  
"How would you learn it if you just passed out in its presence?"  
"That was Harry. I almost died because it mistook me for an enemy."  
"Jane, I really don't want Dementors in my class, you understand?"  
"Yeah, I'm not an idiot. But I would've given my Dementor lovely pink robes and maybe a nurturing face mask for that terribly slimy skin."  
"Of course you would've. You do know that I should give you detention or something for what you did to Snivellus, right?"  
"But you're not gonna because he deserved it for being a prick to Neville?"  
"Exactly."  
"You know, you were really great. The students love you, even Fred, George, and Lee said so. And did you see how confident Neville was in the end there? I've never seen him like that."  
"Yes, there's a lot to Neville. He gets that from his parents. A lot of hidden potential."


	5. G R I D Y L O W S

Somehow, Jane managed to stay out of detention for the entire first week, which meant that she had a free weekend to try out her new broom, and practice for the Quidditch trials on the coming Wednesday. She didn't aspire to take anyone's spot- except maybe Angelina Johnson's- but she really hoped to become a backup player. Flying the Cleansweep Seven was an unmatched feeling. Harry, Fred and George had all allowed her to try out their brooms at some point, but this Cleansweep was hers. It had the feeling of the Cleansweep Fives, but the speed of Harry's Nimbus. She figured, if she could perform decently in all positions, Oliver Wood would simply have to let her on the team. Especially in retrospect of the last two years.  
In her first year for example, Jane was witness to the terrible loss of Gryffindor to Ravenclaw, after Harry, as the only Seeker, was out cold in the hospital wing. If she would've been on the team that year, she could've at least tried to catch the Snitch.  
"Practicing hard, I see." said Fred Weasley, coming to a stop right next to her. He looked at the club in her hand and furrowed his eyebrows "I hope you're not looking to replace George or me, are you?"  
"No, but I need Wood to at least consider me. If I can play all positions, he might give me a chance, y'know? But since you're here now, how about you hit me with a few Quaffels? Y'know, in case the team ever needs a back up Keeper."  
Fred snorted with laughter "Wood would never, and I do mean never, miss a single match. But sure, let's switch a few times. Make a decent Chaser of you."  
It turned out to be a lot easier to play Quidditch if there was someone to play with and every day Jane looked more forward to Wednesday. At least until actual Wednesday arrived. She was half asleep during her first Divination class. It was something about the smell, and the furniture of the classroom that felt like a warm blanket and a lullaby. Hermione was half-heartedly reading Jane's cup when she suddenly stopped "Ha, that one's familiar."  
"Yeah?" yawned Jane "Is it a spot of brown stuff or more like a spatter or a dash of brown stuff?"  
"All of them, but it looks exactly like the spot Harry had in his cup last week. Professor Trelawney's going to have a field day. Jane Lupin, if I'm not mistaken, you've got the Grim." she said that a little too loudly for Jane's taste, as all the heads in the classroom turned to look at them.  
"Ha, ha." she said awkwardly "I have the glim? Like- light?"  
"No the Grim." said Hermione dryly "Did you hear that Ronald? Now two of our friends are going to die. Terrible isn't it."  
Ron looked at Jane with a sense of pity in his eyes "Oh Jane, I am so sorry... maybe- maybe Hermione read it wrong? She's rubbish at it after all."  
Hermione just pulled a grimace and held the cup out for Ron to see "That's the exact same shape as Harry had in his cup. Y'know, the one you thought was a sheep?"  
Professor Trelawney popped up at their table, to which Jane almost dropped the cup in her own hands and looked deeply into the one, Hermione was holding "Oh- oh dear- not another one."  
Jane felt a bitter taste in her mouth "Grim?"  
"Yes child-" said the Professor sadly "You've got the Grim. Oh, how many more..."  
Jane clicked her tongue "Fun. Really fun." she held her hand out to Harry "Shared grave?"  
"Oh yes definitely." he said shaking her hand "Anything specific you'd like our stone to say?"  
"Will you two stop already?" asked Ron anxiously "This isn't funny."  
Even though she tried to play it cool and joke about it, Jane also didn't find the two Grims to be too funny. What if she was about to take a Bludger to the head during trials today, fall of her broom, break her neck and die before ever even getting to set a foot into Hogsmeade. She really didn't want to risk it. Hermione however didn't take either the Grim nor Divination seriously, and so she dragged Jane all the way out to the practice pitch, muttering about how she had more important things to do with her time than to take care of a bunch of paranoid fools who believed the futures were determined by the shape of some specks in their cups.  
"No." said Oliver Wood as soon as he spotted Jane on the pitch "No, absolutely not."  
"Ah, come on Wood." said Fred.  
"Give her a chance." agreed George "We vouch for her."  
"Of course you do." said Oliver "As if you two aren't making me enough trouble."  
"Well, you heard the man." said Jane, turning on the heel to escape her personal death trap.  
"You stay." said Hermione, taking Jane by the arm "Wood, please let her try out."  
The Captain frowned and let out a deep, devastated sigh "What position Lupin?"  
"All." said Jane "I just wanna play back up, don't worry. Or maybe Chaser." she narrowed her eyes at Angelina Johnson "If you ever feel like replacing someone."  
"I don't." said Oliver "But I guess a back up player wouldn't be too bad. You're up for all? Even Beater? Seeker?"  
"Even Keeper." laughed Fred.  
"Well, you're going to have a lot to do then Lupin." said Oliver "Trial for all, if you do well in all, you're on the team."  
"Wicked." said Jane "Could we maybe take softer Bludgers though?"  
"Haha." said Hermione "She's joking. Just start already."  
The Quidditch trials were an exhausting mess. Oliver had Jane fly laps, fight of Bludgers, stop and throw as many Quaffels as possible, catch a Snitch and keep the other contestants safe from Bludgers. Oddly enough, she did very well. Angelina Johnson did break Jane's nose with a Quaffle, but otherwise, the trial went by smoothly, and with one defeated, bloody handshake, Oliver Wood welcomed Jane on the team.  
"Alright Lupin!" said George "Now all you have to do is hope one of us gets seriously injured."  
"Mhm-" said Jane through her hand trying to stop her nose from bleeding "You know she did that on purpose." she hissed to Hermione "That bloody- harpy."  
"She threw a Quaffle and you saved it with your face. Let go already." said Hermione. "More importantly, should we go to the hospital wing or-"  
"Oh no. I'll go see my father, tell him the good news and he can fix this." Jane had a basic understanding of healing magic, and had no trouble healing small wounds or numbing pain, but she wouldn't risk fixing her own nose, despite knowing the spell. As expected, Remus was beyond delighted by his daughter's success.   
"You know," he said, washing the blood of her face "one of my closest friends, used to be on the Quidditch team as well."  
Jane raised her eyebrows. Except for the occasional stories about Snape, her father never talked about his time at Hogwarts, or his friends. "Yeah?"  
"Yeah. He was a Chaser. Bloody brilliant one."  
"Ha... you know, Harry's father was a Chaser as well-"  
"Oh yes I know. James- he's the one I'm talking about."  
"What? Wait- what? You were friends with Harry's father?"  
"He was one of my best friends, actually. Maybe the best friend..." he sounded oddly sad.  
"This is amazing! Does Harry know? I bet he'd love to hear some stories about his father."  
"Don't tell him just yet." he said calmly "Listen, I'm afraid there might be some things happening soon... I need you to know that I love you, okay?"  
"Yeah-" she said very confused "I love you too, dad. What things?"  
"Just..." he sighed "During my days here, I had four very close friends. Two of them were James and Lily Potter. There's a reason Voldemort found them, there's a reason he knew where they were. The man they're all talking about-" he suddenly stopped and buried his face in his hands "Don't tell Harry just yet... I'd like to talk to him personally."  
"What were you going to tell me?"  
He sighed "Nothing- forget about it."  
"Dad-"  
"Jane, another time. Why don't you go spend some time with your friends now? Or maybe even do your homework, eh? Your summary of the Boggart chapter was seriously lacking."  
"You're being weird, you know that?" she asked with growing frustration "What is it with you adults and constantly keeping information from us? We're not stupid, y'know?"  
He smiled softly "I know kid. It's just not the time... and I hope it's never going to be. And please do me a favour and don't tell Harry, okay?"  
"Fine." she muttered "It's not like this would make him happy or anything..."  
She knew deep down, that her father was keeping something from her. Something big. It had to do with Harry, her, him and a friend. An old friend. And it drove her mad. There weren't many things Jane genuinely hated. There were Snape, Malfoy, Angelina, History of Magic and secrets. Keeping them was alright unless she was keeping them from Harry or Hermione. Knowing that someone was keeping a secret from her, especially her father, was torture.   
Luckily, Quidditch happened to be a rather decent distraction. Oliver Wood, who Jane knew wanted to kick her off the team as quickly as possible, always found new ways for her to leave practice bruised, exhausted and drained of any kind of energy. "Fly another twenty laps!" he'd say. "Oh Lupin, don't act like a baby, you can take on two Bludgers at once, can't you?" he'd give the Weasley twins yet another break. "What could possibly be so hard about playing Chaser and Keeper at the same time?"   
He didn't really hate Jane. After all they were both Gryffindors. They were all family. But ever since she'd used the softening charm on literally anything he'd touch, including his broom right during practice during her second year, he had developed some trust issues, when it came to Jane.  
Suppose her being friends with the twins, who liked to make fun of Wood, and disrupt his practice and speeches as often as possible, didn't help Jane's case either.  
Another thing that kept Jane's mind of her father's secret was Snape. During the following weeks he tormented Neville worse than ever before, and thereby fuelled her hatred and need to teach him a lesson. Coincidentally, it was hatching season for the Grindylows, which meant that the Black Lake was crowding with Grypts.  
Armed with enchanted mason jars, Jane, Fred and George made their way down to the lake and began filling the jars with the water. The plan was fairly simple. The jars, bewitched to be bigger on the inside, were filled with water, and blindly pointing their wands at the lake, the trio summoned as many Grypts as possible. About twenty Grypts per jar, five jars in total. They made sure the little demons wouldn't wither before their time to shine and through a secret passageway in the back of the castle, leading directly into the dungeons, they snuck into the potions classroom and hid the jars between all of Snape's other jars.  
"Now-" said Fred, hiding the last jar behind a tall one filled with Plimpy-eyes "we wait."  
Due to the enchantments on the jars, the Grindylows would be able to grow in peace, without being constricted, but once they were fully grown, their aggressive nature would have them break the glass and flood Snape's office with gallons of lake water and angry Grindylows.   
"Are we brilliant or what?" said Jane proudly as they snuck back to their common room "I wish I could see Snape's face when they get out."  
"Hope you don't." said George "You don't want those things anywhere near you, trust me."  
The glass broke only a week later. The Quidditch team was halfway though their Tuesday session when a furious, soaked Snape, with bite marks all over his hands and face and his clothes in shreds, stormed onto the Quidditch pitch, pointing his finger directly at Jane who was just passing the Quaffle over to Alicia Spinnet. "LUPIN!" he ballowed "Get down here now!"  
She awkwardly landed in the grass five feet away from him and kept her distance "Professor, can I help you? Did you get into a fight with a vampire or something?"  
He flashed his teeth and his black eyes glistened with hatred "I know it was you, Lupin. I don't know if your degenerate father put you up to this, afterall Grindylows are on the lesson plan this year, but I'll have you rot in detention until you breathe your very last breath."  
"Cool." said Jane "Not this weekend though. I have detention this weekend. Next one's no good either... I should be free on the second of May er- 1998. Yeah, that works. Also, what's a Grindylow? Oh wait, don't tell me-" she raised her hand as if to silence him "I read about them in Scamander's book... water demon, right? He only classified them as xx though, even a Cornish Pixie is more dangerous, Professor, and we took those on in our second year."  
Snape's lip curled dangerously "A hundred Grindylows suddenly flooded my office, broke all of my shelves and my personal stores of ingredients- you will clean all of that up by hand and replace every single-"  
"I didn't do it Professor! How on earth would I even get my hands on one Grindylow, not to mention a hundred?"  
"I don't know how you did it, I just know you did. I don't need to know how you did it either. you should be lucky I don't have you expelled."  
"Professor," said Oliver who landed next to Jane "I'm sorry but I need Jane up there right now. What did she do?" Fred and George also landed and tried to hide their grins.  
"I did nothing." said Jane "Professor, I'm sorry you got a bit wet but I had nothing to do with it. All it needs is a quick reparo maxima and your office is fine."  
"That is twenty points for backtalk, Lupin. And Mr Wood, I'm sorry to inform you that you'll have to continue your session without the precious bench sitter here."  
"What, you're gonna punish me for your mistakes?" asked Jane "I think the real question here is why you had a hundred Grindylows in your office in the first place. As far as I know they're rather popular on the black market, aren't they? I don't suppose you think some third year who can't even afford new school robes just happened to have a big order of demons shipped to Hogwarts, do you?"  
"Yeah," said Fred "that is a pretty serious allegation. I mean Jane's a bit unruley from time to time but what you're accusing her of sounds downright impossible."  
"Sneaking a hundred Grindylows into the school." George shook his head "Even I wouldn't know how to pull that off."  
Jane bit her tongue trying not to smile at the innocent faces of the twins and nodded just as seriously.   
"This isn't the last you will hear of this." said Snape pointing his finger "You are in serious trouble Lupin. As for the Misters Weasley, I wouldn't be surprised if you were involved as well." with that he stormed off the pitch, his long black robes flowing in the wind. As soon as he was out of sight, the trio broke out in laughter and Oliver flashed them angry looks.  
"You three are absolutely unbelievable." he said and turned to Jane "Don't make me regret letting you on the team by having Snape constantly interrupt our practice.  
That evening they all sat together in Fred and George's dorm, where Harry filled Ron, Neville and Lee in on how Snape lost his mind on the pitch, and Fred, George and Jane explained how they got the Grindylows into Snape's office. "All for you, Nev." said Jane "Next time Snape's mean to you, we'll unleash a swarm of Billwigs or something."  
Neville blushed furiously at the idea of the trio risking getting in serious trouble to avenge him, and thanked them about a dozen times before they moved on to picturing all of the Grinylows suddenly bursting from their jars, effectively flooding probably the entire dungeon and Snape trying to make it to the door to escape their teeth. "I haven't even thought about it." said Harry "The Slytherin common room was probably flooded as well."  
"Serves them right." said Ron "I hope Malfoy slips and bruises his buttocks."


	6. H O G S M E A D E

The end of October approached hand in hand with the first ever visit to Hogsmeade for Jane's year. If she wanted to actually go and see Honeydukes and Zonko's, she had to watch her step. Snape still had his eyes fixed on her, so much in fact that neither Harry or Neville nor Ron heard a single word from Snape. The potions classroom was a mess- the Grindylows had taken the entire room and Snape's office apart until they were finally stopped by an entire group of teachers and older students, and carefully retrieved back into the lake.   
With almost two entire months having passed, Jane would've usually started skipping boring classes and sleeping in by now, however with almost every teacher, including her own father, watching her like hawks, she found herself in the miserable position of actually attending classes and even worse, doing her homework. That was especially frustrating now that Hagrid's class had become such a dull experience. No more flying around on a Hippogriff's back and instead endless torturous hours of Flobberworm care.  
On the day of Halloween and the first visit, Jane squeezed as many Galleons from her fathers pocket as possible and looked forward to a teacher-free day down in the village, with only her friends and some Butterbeer. The only dampener on her mood was that Harry couldn't come along. Jane tried to convince her father to just go with her and Harry, but he had a lot of work to do, and was also feeling rather sick, with the full-moon quickly approaching.  
"You know, it's really not fair that he doesn't get to go because of those Dursley tossers." she said on the way down to the village.  
"Oh, he'll get to go eventually." said Fred.  
"Yes, besides it's really not that special." said George.  
"Maybe, but he's not only missing out on the very first trip, but also on the entire year of Hogsmeade visits. That's downright cruel."  
"Ah life." said Lee "A series of unfortunate events. Tragic."  
"Mhm..." said Jane, suddenly very distracted. A big, black dog stared at her right from between the trees, before running off into the woods.   
"What's the matter, Lupin?" asked Fred.  
"You guys... do you believe in the Grim?"  
"Of course we do." said George before Fred could stop him.  
"Not." he laughed "Of course we do not."  
"Ah." said Jane "So- Harry saw a big black dog, back during the holidays, and then he got the Grim during Divination... a big, black dog. Not a week later, I also get the Grim and now-" she pointed at the trees "Just there, a big, black dog stared directly at me before running off."  
"Life is full of coincidences, isn't it?" said Fred "I mean wow, how crazy..."  
"Yes," said George "so many coincidences... like when-"  
"Or when-" agreed Fred.  
"Or that time when we-" said Lee.  
"Oh, funny." said Jane "Y'know, if I die, I'll haunt all three of you? Proper Shrieking Shack haunting."  
"I think the Shrieking Shack myth is nothing but bollocks anyways." said Fred "I'll cope."  
"Asswipes." muttered Jane. The rest of the way she kept glancing into the woods surrounding them, trying to catch another look at that dog. It had looked rather normal, except for its striking grey eyes and painfully starved appearance. "Maybe... maybe we should try to find the dog." she said suddenly "It might've been lost, y'know? It looked really sick, maybe Hagrid could take care of it."  
"Oh brilliant idea." said Lee "Let's go into the forest, but while we're at it, should I ask one of your cloaked best friends to join us?"  
"He means the Dement-"  
"Yeah, I know what he means." said Jane before George could finish his sentence. "Suppose the dog can just starve and die then. Why should we be humane."  
"It's a dog." said Fred "It'll be fine."  
They were interrupted by one of the fourth year students leaving his friends to talk to Jane "Hey, Lupin, right?" he said with a slimey smirk.  
"Occasionally." said Jane.  
"I'm Cormac." said the guy "McLaggen."   
Behind her, Jane heard Fred snort with laughter but Cormac McLaggen's expression remained just as slimey as he held out his hand, expecting Jane to shake it. "Congratulations." said Jane, ignoring his hand.  
"So, first time at Hogsmeade, eh? If you're not too busy, I could show you around, the Three Broomsticks is a wonderful place to start." more laughter from Fred.  
"Er-" said Jane helplessly "I've got a bit of a schedule to keep but thanks... for the offer." now Lee and George had to laugh as well.  
McLaggen pulled a bit of a grimace "I bet I could help you with that as well."  
"Hey," said Fred still grinning "McLaggen, Lupin's busy. Maybe try again in like a never or something."  
"What a moron." laughed George when McLaggen was back with his own peers.  
Jane was still utterly confused and tremendously uncomfortable. There was no way that guy had just asked her... out, right? That had never happened before and she didn't really expect it to happen for at least another twenty years or so. "I- I'll- go." she said awkwardly "Hermione."  
"Have- go have-" mocked Fred "Fun."  
"The weirdest thing just happened." said Jane, pulling Hermione away from Ron "At least I think the weirdest thing just happened."  
"That g-" she suddenly stopped herself. What exactly would she even say or talk about, it was just a stupid non-sense conversation. "That dog, Harry talked about seeing-"  
"What the Grim?" scoffed Hermione.  
"Or whatever." said Jane "I just saw the same one- I mean not the exact same one, I just mean there was a big, black dog staring at me from between the trees. Just a moment before it ran away. I'm not saying the Grim, but maybe it means something?"  
"Like an omen?"  
"Kind of..."  
"Let go of it already. All of you. Professor McGonagall said it was rubbish, and personally I agree-"  
"You don't say."  
"Dogs exist, Jane. Dogs run around. The only reason you even notice it is because you're all paranoid. You think about something enough, you'll start seeing it at every corner."  
Jane opened her mouth to say something, but no argument came to mind. Instead she just stayed quiet and listened to Ron and Hermione fight over their pets as well as trying to compromise on which of the shops to visit first.  
"Lupin." said Fred appearing behind her "C'mon, I said I'd introduce you to Zonko's."  
"Where are George and Lee?"  
"Oh, pissed off elsewhere. I think Lee has it out for Alicia today. George wanted to get mom something from the tea shop. Now come on, no place greater than Zonko's." he smiled, dragging Jane along into the joke shop. He showed her around for a while, showing her all his favourite products and telling her fun little anecdotes about them. "One time, George and I slipped this under Percy's pillow." he grinned pointing at a thin string "He couldn't sleep for a week."  
"What does it to?" she asked, looking at the string. It looked more like thick hair than anything else.  
He lay one of the strings into his palm and covered it with his other hand "Listen."   
Jane held her ear against his cupped hands and suddenly her head was filled with loud, manic laughter.  
"See?" grinned Fred "Percy of course had no idea this exists. Never stepped a foot into Zonko's. He simply thought he was going insane."  
Jane laughed "A shame I missed that."  
"Definitely, but you'll get plenty chances to see him out of his mind. It's Percy, after all. Here," he handed Jane a quill "You should get one of these. They're also sold at Honeydukes but they look realer here."  
"What is it?"   
"Sugar Quill." he smiled "Perfect for class. Incredibly delicious." he took a second one. "Ooh, this is also fun." he said pointing at a piece of soap.  
"Soap?"  
He grinned "Yes, regular soap in a joke shop."   
Jane rolled her eyes "What does it do, smartass?"  
"Picture this." He said "You go to the bathroom to wash you hands, but instead of clean hands you get a bunch of frogs jumping at you. Might slip some into Ron's bathroom."   
"Ah, like the Grindylows."  
"Exactly like the Grindylows."  
Inspecting the soap more closely, Jane noticed the small dots all over the soap. Unhatched eggs, most likely. "There you are!" Jane flinched at the sound of Angelina Johnson's voice, and reluctantly turned around to watch Fred greet her with a hug "Been looking all over for you, Freddie. Should've figured you'd be here."  
"Where else." said Fred "Had to get some Stink Pellets."  
"And babysit, apparently." said Angelina sweetly with a glance at Jane who felt about ready to punch her.  
"Hm?" asked Fred "Oh no, I was just showing Lupin around."  
"Oh how sweet of you." purred Angelina "Listen, we're all at the Three Broomsticks, why don't you come with me?"  
"I'll come after in a second Angie, I have to show Lupin something else first."  
"Ah." Angelina smiled bitterly "Well, see you in a minute."  
Only once she was gone did Jane realize how tense she'd been. The familiar jealous feeling whenever she saw the two of them talk like that, standing closely and her with her hands all over him finally left her and she went back to her normal self "What d'you have to show me?"  
"The secret passageway of course." said Fred "It's really the last thing George and I have to teach you."  
"You mean my learning days are almost over?"  
He nodded "Yes my young Padawan. By the time we return to the castle, you'll be a fully-fledged Jedi master."  
"Oh Star Wars reference, impressive."  
He bowed in front of her before taking two bags of Stink Pellets and going to pay. Together they went to pick up George, who was currently hanging around outside of Ceridwen's Cauldrons and headed over to Honeydukes. "Alright Lupin," said George "how many passageways in total?"  
"Seven."  
"Which one leads to Honeydukes cellar?"  
"On the third floor behind that statue of the one eyed witch."  
"Password?"  
"Dissendium."  
"They grow up so fast." said George, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. Apparently, the way to making it down to Honeydukes' cellar was confidence. Fred and George marched through the shop as if they owned it, right over to the cellar door, without anyone even batting an eye. George opened the door and held it open for Fred and Jane to slip through. "Here we are." he said, skipping down the stairs "God's greatest gift." he knelt down and opened the trapdoor leading down into a tunnel.  
"The possibilities..." muttered Jane.  
"Yes, endless." said Fred "But we shouldn't anger the gods by asking too much."  
"Yes, Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were generous enough to offer us safe passage." said George "We shan't be greedy."  
"Of course not." agreed Jane. They snuck back up and Jane went to join some of her classmates while the twins headed off to the Three Broomsticks. She decided to use the three Galleons her father gave her to get him some of his favourite tea and another pack of tea she assumed he'd like and then went on to find something for Harry, to make his day just a little less terrible. Neville suggested she'd simply get some chocolate frogs but Hermione and Jane agreed, that Harry could get those anywhere. Instead Hermione, Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean and Jane all put together, to get Harry the wildest selection of candy they'd ever seen. Acid Pops, Batt's Blood Soup and blood flavoured lollipops- just to mess with him- charm choc, Cockroach Clusters- also to mess with him- pepper imps, toads, mice- actually candy in the shape of any animal imaginable and some Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans.  
"I'll throw up if he actually tries one of the cockroaches." said Ron. They had put all of the candies into a nice gift basket and entered the Three Broomsticks. There was a certain thrill in ordering their first ever Butterbeers and for a second, Neville contemplated whether he should dare it at all.  
"It's not fire-whiskey, Nev." said Jane "It's legal, don't worry."  
"I hope it works out for him this time." said Ron absently and Jane followed the direction he was looking to find Fred and Angelina sitting next to each other with her head on his shoulder. She just bit her tongue and looked into another direction.  
"Rubbish Ronald." said Hermione who was the only one Jane ever told about her crush on Fred "They've been on and off so many times, even I've lost count. And that in just a year. It's just not supposed to be."  
"No, no," said Ron "I have a good feeling about this time. Jane, you know him better. Tell her."  
"Oh yeah-" said Jane "they're great... great."  
"See?" said Ron smugly and Hermione just shook her head before turning to talk to Neville instead.  
The rest of their stay at Hogsmeade was bittersweet. Ron and Hermione wouldn't stop bickering, and every time Fred as much as looked at Angelina, Hermione looked at Jane like she'd just been diagnosed with a deadly disease. Also, Jane could've sworn she saw the same dog about seven more times, watching her from a distance. But the warm Butterbeer, good conversation with Seamus and Dean, and the casual atmosphere of the pub made it all worth-while. At the end they returned to the castle in high spirits and filled Harry in on everything that made the village so wonderful.   
"Ah well, Miss Lupin." said Snape when he saw Jane in the hallway "Your father got something delivered today."  
"Uhm, okay? Thank you for the update on my father's... deliveries?"  
"Aren't you at all curious what it was?"  
"Well- should I be?"  
"A Grindylow! Aha!" he pointed his long, bony finger "I knew it was you!"  
"Huh?" Jane was genuinely confused. Of course it was her, but how on earth did Snape connect those unconnectable dots "Are you saying I got a delivery of a hundred water demons, big water demons, carried them all the way down to the dungeons and hid those four feet beasts in your office without raising any suspicion? Because I have to say... I'm a little honoured you think I'm capable of that. I don't even know how to order pizza, but-"  
"Oh stop playing dumb already-"  
"Professor, I'm blushing! Are you calling me smart? Clever? A genius?" she flipped her hair.  
"It wasn't you alone then. Your father alway-"  
"My father?" laughed Jane "That man folds his socks! He once apologized to a door after walking into it and you think he'd allow me, not to mention help me, to prank a teacher? He held a twenty minute lecture for dropping a Dungbomb during charms and you think he'd be up for something that destructive? You don't know him at all, do you professor."  
"I get the feeling you don't know him at all, Lupin." sneered Snape and left Jane standing, confused about such a weird statement. And why'd he say her name like that? 'Lupin', in air-quotes.


	7. L Y C A N T H R O P Y

The Halloween feast was as wonderful as always. Candle-filled pumpkins floating in the air, delicious food and the mood at an all time high. Jane was surprised to see her father sitting at the teacher's table, usually he preferred to hide away in his room during the full moon and just wait for it to pass while feeling sickly and uncomfortable, but he just sat there, talking animatedly with Flitwick. Jane wondered if it had anything to do with the potion, Harry said Snape gave to Remus.  
Those high spirits were nowhere to be found however, when they returned to the Gryffindor tower, to find the Fat Lady missing, her painting torn to shreds and Peeves announcing, it was Sirius Black who was responsible. "I don't like this one bit." whispered Jane to Harry, once they were all settled to spend the night in the Great Hall "You said you saw a Grim when you ran away from the Dursleys, didn't you?"  
"Oh, I don't know what I saw..." said Harry.  
"I saw it too, like eight times today in Hogsmeade. That black dog, just staring at me from between the trees- maybe... well- Sirius Black wants to kill you right?"  
"So I've been told."  
"What if I get in the way and he kills both of us? What if it happens tonight? He got into the castle unseen, who knows where he is. Maybe he drank Polyjuice and is hiding among us-"  
"Please stop." begged Harry.  
"No but think about it," said Jane "he could be anywhere. Ron could be somewhere, dead in a ditch and you're actually lying right next to Sirius black-"  
Ron sighed loudly "Ah you foolish girl! Now my cover is blown! Arrr-" he spoke like a pirate and waved his fist in the air. "I'll have to kill you now!" with one big move he hit both, Jane and Harry in the head with his pillow.  
"I said no more talking!" said Percy "Please be quiet now."  
"Maybe he's Sirius Black." whispered Ron "We could hex him and find out."  
Jane giggled quietly "What are we thinking?"  
"That you should be sleeping." said Percy leaning down right next to them "All of you, quiet, now! I am Head Boy, you have to listen to me!"  
"No offense pinhead, but you're by far the loudest right now." said Jane but went to sleep nonetheless. Her dreams couldn't have been more confusing. Not because they were the usual mess, but because they felt like a memory. And what a memory it was. There was the young witch- her mother- her father looking much younger, Harry but a little older and he was holding a baby and next to him stood a beautiful young woman with red hair and Harry's eyes. Then there was a young blonde man, Jane had never seen in her life- as far as she could remember- and Sirius Black, looking almost unrecognizable, young and healthy, was saying something to Harry, making him break out in laughter.  
"Hey Am." said Harry, approaching her "This is Harry." he put the child he was holding down next to Jane and she realized the man wasn't Harry at all, it had to be James Potter. The baby however, stared at Jane with those warm green eyes, and put his little hand in her face. "You're going to be the best of friends, aren't you?" asked James warmly "Can't believe it, Marauders generation two. Time for you two to get busy as well." he joked, looking in the approximate direction of the blonde stranger.  
Jane's baby version didn't really care about the adults anymore and instead stole Harry's dummy, just to throw it at him. "Oh yeah, that's definitely your daughter pad." laughed James, and gave Harry his dummy back.  
When Jane woke up, she felt completely warm on the inside and just inspected Harry's peaceful face for a while. They'd really known each other their entire lives and James was right, they were going to be the best of friends. Harry's eyes opened just a split second and weakly hit her face like a snooze button "Stop staring weirdo, what did you do?"  
"Man I just had the weirdest dream." she said quietly, rubbing her eyes "You were there..."  
"Well, that's never good." he said.  
"This time it was-" she stopped herself, remembering her father's request to talk to Harry himself "It was about the time we first met." she said instead.  
He opened one eye and stared back at her "Any reason?"  
"No- just... reminding me that our friendship means a lot to me."  
"That is awfully cheesy coming from someone like you."  
"Yes, well- it's the sad truth."  
As it always was with dreams, by the time they got up for breakfast, Jane couldn't remember anything about the dream except for Harry. She forgot about James calling them the next generation Marauders, forgot about him calling her father 'pad', forgot about the blonde man and the fact that the Sirius Black had been standing right there, right next to the baby he wanted to kill, without laying a single finger on him.  
The weeks went by quickly with anxious chatter about Sirius Black and Quidditch, and before any of the Gryffindors felt ready to take on Hufflepuff, the day of the match already stood right before them.  
"Got you some tea." said Jane in the morning, bringing a hot cup into her father's chamber "It's bad, huh?"  
"Oh, I'll cope." he said, thankfully taking the cup "It's not the first time now, is it."  
"You know, Snape's your substitute for today... as if double potions aren't enough. Say, what was that potion he made you? Harry told me about it."  
He sighed "That boy doesn't miss anything, does he. It's Wolfsbane Potion. Snape was kind enough to brew me enough to make it through the entire year."  
"Snape knows? Are you off your rocker? He'll tell the ministry, he'll tell the school board, he'll te-"  
"Oh pish posh he's known for a long time. Snape's- well he's Snape but he wouldn't expose me like that."  
"Snape's Snape and he would definitely do that. Dad you finally have a stable job you're really good at. Snape's going to mess it up for you, I just know that."  
"Don't be so negative Jane. You need to give people a chance to prove you wrong from time to time."  
"Not if they've proven me right about a million times already." she said darkly "He's a monster, y'know? The way he treats Neville for example... Harry can deal with it but don't you think it's really messed up that Nev is more terrified by his teacher than the deatheaters who tortured his parents for example?"  
He sighed again "Oh Jane what do you expect me to say... I don't- I know he's not nice, trust me, I do. But he's doing me a favour, even if Dumbledore is the one who told him to do so... Dumbledore trusts him and I trust Dumbledore. Can we say that's enough, just for the time being?"  
"Fine." she said and crawled next to him into his arms, just like they always used to when one of them was feeling under the weather "I mean as long as he helps you feel better during the full moon... who am I to question him."  
Remus smiled softly and kissed the top of her head then he whispered "I know you're trying to get out of class right now. Not working."  
Jane groaned and sat back up "Lovely how you always mistake my genuine and sweet personality for-"  
"Go to class Jane." he said "And thanks for the tea."  
Of course Snape managed to prove Remus wrong in the first ten minutes of his lesson. "Today we shall discuss-" he flicked through his textbook "werewolves." he looked at Jane with a nasty smile.  
"But sir," said Hermione "we're not supposed to do werewolves yet, we're due to start Hinkypunks-"  
"Miss Granger, I was under the impression that I was taking this lesson, not you. And I am telling you all to turn to page three hundred and ninety-four. All of you! Now!" Jane wondered how her father could be as naive as to trust this angry, greasy man. "Which one of you can tell me how to distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?"  
Jane did something, she'd never done before and raised her hand, just like Hermione. She could see the surprised faces of her classmates who were used to her waiting for a teacher to call on her, but Snape ignored both hands in the air "Anyone?" he asked with another nasty smile "Are you telling me that Professor Lupin-"  
"Are you blind?" asked Jane "Hermione and I are both raising our hands."  
"Detention Lupin." he said coldly and still ignored the hands "I never thought I'd meet a third-year class who wouldn't even recognize a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are..."  
"Please, sir," said Hermione with her hand still in the air "the werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf-"  
"That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all."  
"You asked us a question and she knows the answer!" said Ron bravely "Why ask if you don't want to be told?"  
Silence fell over the entire class, as Snape slowly approached Ron "Detention Weasley. And if I ever hear you criticise the way I teach a class again you will be sorry indeed."  
Jane snorted with laughter and stood up "You call that teaching? Usually teachers teach and don't push their own egos."  
"Sit down Lupin-"  
"Alright, the distinctions between werewolves and true wolves are fairly simple." said Jane, ignoring the professor and walking towards the top of the classroom "As Miss Granger already began to point out one of the differences would be the snout, which is shorter in the werewolf than in the true wolf."  
"That is ten points from Gryffindor, sit down Lupin!" said Snape but Jane kept ignoring him.  
"As I believe Miss Granger would've explained next, another difference can be found at the tail, which is tufted in a werewolf, rather than full and bushy like in a true wolf." she looked around the classroom "Miss Granger, would you like to tell us the third giveaway of a werewolf?"  
"It's pupils are smaller." she said shyly.  
"Exactly." agreed Jane "Good job Miss Granger, I'm sure a decent teacher would grant you ten points."  
"That is enough!" said Snape "Leave my classroom now-"  
"I'm sorry, I'm trying to teach here. Criticising Professor Lupin's organisation skills is hardly what we need to pass our O.W.L.s in two years. Can anybody here tell me, what exactly it takes for someone to become a werewolf?" she asked "It's all in the book, how about you, Mr Finnigan, could you give us a quick summary?"  
"Er-" Seamus looked at Jane with an unsure expression and then over to Snape, back to Jane and then in his book "Well, if a p-person- I mean they have to be bitten by a werewolf in its wolfish form during the full moon..."  
"Excellent Mr Finnigan, now how about Mr Longbottom, how exactly does the contamination occur?"  
Neville took a second to look into his book before saying "When the werewolf's salvia mingles with the victim's blood."  
"Thank you Mr Longbottom, that is correct."  
"I've had enough of your antics Lupin, leave now!" said Snape angrily.  
"Mr Snape, please, I'm trying to teach a class here, if you could be so kind as to sit down and hold your questions for the end of the lesson, and please stop speaking out of term, or I'll have to take points from Slytherin-"  
"I will have you expelled for this-"  
"For what exactly? On what grounds?" she asked angrily "You pick a topic we haven't covered yet, ignore the only students who could answer your questions and keep stalling by insulting Professor Lupin. We actually got a decent DADA teacher for once, and I will not have you ruin his good work. Now, werewolves suffer from a disease called lycanthropy, which forces them to turn from their human side to the werewolf side once a month during the full moon. Now, I believe you have all read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them at some point during your academic careers, can someone tell me where the lycanthropy disease originated from?" she looked around "Yes, Miss Brown?"  
"Er- in northern Europe." she said taking her hand back down.  
"That is correct."  
"I am curious Miss Lupin-" snarled Snape "How come you know so much about werewolves, as far as I know you are too thick to count to ten."  
"Ah, interesting question." said Jane "You see, not only is it right here in the book, which I have read through in preparation for this school year, but it is also covered by Newt Scamander."  
"Besides, Miss Lupin is great with all sorts of magical creatures and regular animals." said Harry.  
"Thank you Mr Potter, I appreciate it. Any more questions sir? No? Then I can either offer you to return to your teaching position, and actually hold a proper lesson or you can stop holding this class back and let me continue today's lesson." she'd never been this bold before, and she considered herself a rather bold person twenty-four hours a day. She could see the corners of Snape's mouth twitch as he walked back to his desk.  
"Sit down, Lupin." he said quietly. He continued the rest of the lesson without anymore interruptions or cheap shots at Remus and dismissed them with homework that made Jane's blood boil just a little more. But she seemed to have thrown him off, as he completely forgot to talk to her or Ron about their detention. As soon as they brought a reasonable distance between them and the classroom the students broke out in fits of laughter.  
"Oi, Professor Lupin-" said Seamus, giving Jane a clap on the back "How does it feel to have bigger bells than the statue of liberty?"  
"I honestly thought he'd just finish you off right there." said Ron "One quick hex and alter our memories so we wouldn't snitch."  
"That was highly inappropriate." said Hermione "I mean... talking to a teacher like that-"  
"Oh stop it Hermione." said Ron "That was brilliant, I mean it takes a lot to have Snape speechless like that."  
"Yes, a lot of stupidity." said Hermione "I mean, Jane could get suspended or expelled-"  
"For what?" asked Harry "She did nothing wrong, I think we can all agree that it was necessary."  
Neville nodded "Yeah, you didn't make me feel stupid... that was nice."  
"You aren't stupid, Nev." she said quietly "So that was simple."  
"Hey, are you okay?" asked Harry quietly "You seem angry."  
"Worried." she said "I have to go talk to my father..."  
"Yeah, what's up with him? Is it bad?"  
"No, he's a bit under the weather, iron deficiency... he's anaemic, y'know."  
"What's that?" asked Ron.  
"Blood anaemia." said Hermione "It's a condition in which you lack enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to your body's tissues. It can make you feel tired and weak- oh that's why Professor Lupin always looks a little sick-"  
"Is that the potion Snape gave him? Something to help with that?" asked Harry.  
"Yeah, kinda. I mean there's all sorts of stuff, like certain tee, pills and other treatments, but potions tend to do a much better job on a wizard's vitalities than average muggle medication." Jane had no idea what she was talking about, she'd only heard about anaemia once, when she broke her leg as a child and her father took her to a muggle hospital. The doctor had given her some supplements when she told him she was a vegetarian. But the three seemed to see no problem in her statement and so she parted from them to go see her father.  
"He wouldn't expose me like that Jane. Don't be so negative Jane. You need to give people a chance to prove you wrong from time to time Jane." she said angrily storming into her father's room "In that case, father, I wonder why Snivellus just skipped Hinkypunks and all to teach us about werewolves then, and why he'd want us to write an essay on how to kill them as homework."


	8. Q U I D D I T C H

Quidditch. More importantly, Jane's first match. Would she be playing? Unlikely. Was she nervous anyways? Absolutely. Her and her father had talked about Jane joining a Quidditch team her entire life. Not because she was some sort of natural talent like Harry, but because she loved the game and because her father believed, it might calm her down a bit, redirect her energy into something useful. She felt a little stupid to be sitting on a bench and wait for someone to get hurt, but she figured if something were to happen, she'd have to fight just as hard as everybody else.  
"Here you go, Lupin." said Oliver, handing Jane her very own Quidditch uniform, with a big, golden eight on the back.  
"Er- thanks?" she said, unsure whether the eight was meant to be in- or exclusive. Ravenclaw had a stand in player as well, but his uniform was blank, no number, no title, just blue. She changed into the uniform, feeling like an idiot and then followed the rest of the team out onto the field. Before they reached the Hufflepuffs, Oliver held her back and pointed over to a small bench.  
"If anything happens, you wait for my sign and then take position, understood?"  
Jane nodded awkwardly and headed over to the bench, ignoring Angelina's stupid laugh. Oliver and the Hufflepuff's captain, Cedric Diggory, shook hands and Madam Hooch ordered the players to mount their brooms and blew her whistle for the game to begin. The weather conditions were terrible, it was freezing cold and raining out of buckets. Harry seemed to have a hard time, holding himself up until Hermione bewitched his glasses to repel the rain.  
With every passing second, Jane became more uncomfortable, she could see some of the Slytherins point at her and laugh, as she sat in the rain. She was just about to just take a nap or something when it happened. Angelina flew past her and gave a cocky grin, distracting her for just a second too much. A Bludger crashed right through her broom, breaking it and sending Angelina fall o the ground. Jane looked up to Wood who gave a thumbs up and Jane mounted her broom and pushed off the ground.  
"Lupin, go round!" screamed Alicia from the other side of the field and Jane sped past the Hufflepuff Chasers to catch the Quaffle and pass it to Katie Bell, who was already waiting in the scoring area. With one hard swing, she drowned the Quaffle through a golden hoop and shot back in formation.  
"AND KATIE BELL SCORES!" howled Lee Jordan's voice, followed by loud cheers from the Gryffindor stance. The Keeper fired the Quaffle back into the field, and Jane blocked one of the Chasers and caught it herself, let herself fall before the Bludger speeding towards her could hit her "LUPIN PASSES TO BELL, BELL ON TO SPINNET, LUPIN IS IN THE SCORING AREA AND SCOREEE!" yelled Lee and more the Gryffindor stance erupted once more as Alicia gave Jane a high five, flying past her.  
"We're still in the lead!" Yelled Oliver "Harry, get the Snitch and we win, go on!" Harry gave a thumbs up and sped back towards the sky, closely followed by Cedric Diggory. "Lupin, keep it up!" said Oliver to Jane and she saluted before turning her broom to follow Alicia back to the middle.  
"GO LONG!" yelled Katie Bell, with the Quaffle in her hand. All three Chasers were blocked by the other team and Jane freed herself by flying up towards the sky, all the way over to the scoring area. She caught the Quaffle, as second before one of the Hufflepuffs could reach her and blindly dropped the ball.  
"LUPIN PASSES TO SPINNET AND SHE SCORES! SCOOREEEE!"  
"YES!" screamed Alicia, but Jane felt a little out of the loop all of a sudden. She was cold- not rain cold but her insides freezing up cold- and so unhappy- she felt so unhappy. What even was the point in winning this match, they'd never win the cup and even if they did- what was the point in that? Another worthless achievement before a long dull life and unescapable death. She looked at her broom, the rain on it frozen solid, if she was anywhere in her right mind, she'd just let go, what was the point of living when they'd all just die anyways. What was the point of suffering through hundreds of years of sadness, pain and misery if death was going to be the answer anyways.  
"LUPIN!" screamed Oliver "LUPIN FOCUS ON THE GAME WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she looked down on Oliver just as a figure fell from the sky, passing Oliver. Was that- Harry? "LUPIN, SEEKER NOW!" yelled Oliver "CATCH THE BLOODY SNITCH!"  
"IS THAT HARRY?" she yelled back.  
"SNITCH LUPIN! CATCH IT!"  
She looked up at the sky, and saw a yellow uniform shine through the thick clouds. It was getting closer and Cedric Diggory appeared with the Snitch already in his hand "DEMENTORS!" he yelled right at Jane "DON'T GET CLOSER THERE'S DEMENTORS AT LEAST A HUNDRED OF THEM!" the air grew colder as he spoke and Jane saw the Dementors, emerging from the clouds. "GO DOWN!" yelled Cedric but Jane felt frozen again as the Dementors flew right towards her. "ARE YOU DEAF? GET DOWN!" nothing could've helped Jane in that moment, forty feet up in the air, looking eye to- mouth with one of the beasts. Nothing could've helped except a bright silvery light shot up from the ground, sending the Dementors away, and Jane watched in awe as a phoenix of silver light flew past her.  
She finally unfroze and sped towards the ground "I'M SO SORRY WOOD!" she screamed through the rain "THE DEMENTORS- I COULDN'T MOVE-"  
"DON'T WORRY LUPIN!" he yelled back before the team met on the ground surrounding Harry.  
"I didn't know!" said Cedric Diggory "I didn't know they were there, didn't see them." he passed the Snitch to Oliver "Let's rematch!"  
Oliver shook his head "You won fair and square-" he said sadly. "I- I'll go..." he trotted off the field before and Dumbledore took his place to lift Harry onto a stretcher and have him carried off to the hospital wing.  
Madam Hooch and Lee Jordan both announced Hufflepuff's win, with much of a melancholy side and the team went to the dressing rooms. "Lupin, why didn't you move?" asked Fred "They almost got you again-"  
"Couldn't move, Weasley." she said quietly, she felt just as down as she did face to face with the spirits.  
"Man, are you okay?" asked George "You're all pale and-"  
"Yeah, yeah." she sighed "As okay as one can be in this pointless existence. Who knows, maybe Harry is finally free."  
"Ah, of course." said Fred "You should probably ask for some more of that Euphoria stuff, Myrtle."  
"What's the point."  
"Shut up." said George "You look sound as miserable as Wood- where did Wood go anyways?"  
"Right here." sighed Oliver's voice from one of the running showers.  
"Are you coming with us to make sure Harry's still alive?"  
"What's the point."  
"Alright-" said Fred unsure, throwing his bag over his shoulder "Lupin, you're coming, right?"  
"Later."  
"He fell really bad, y'know." said George.  
"Lucky." she muttered sitting down on the bench and untying one of her heavy boots.  
Fred just clicked his tongue "I'll tell Madam Pomfrey to get some of that potion for you... see you in a second, yeah?"  
"Mhm." she nodded darkly and Fred gave her a pat on the head before the team left the dressing rooms, still in their muddy uniforms.  
"You were really good." said Wood from his shower.  
"So what. We lost."  
"Yeah, still really good game. Surprised me, really. You weren't ever that good during practice, I was worried I made a mistake letting you on the team."  
"And you don't anymore? I didn't catch the Snitch-"  
"Considering the Dementors I can forgive that." he muttered "You did good, Jane."  
"Thanks- Oliver... say, are you gonna be okay? I mean we can still win the cup, right?"  
"Maybe... Angelina's broom is history, I haven't seen Harry's Nimbus anywhere- we would have to beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin, we lost by eighty points so if- what am I even trying to do. I've been on the team so long an we never won the house cup and now I'm graduating and allowing my last chance to win slip right from my fingers."  
"Well, that's just stupid. You'll still play Quidditch after school, won't you?"  
"I mean, I hope to-"  
"Yeah, so even if we don't win the cup this year, which we will, you still get the chance to win the world cup some day. That's not limited by graduation."  
"Only by death." agreed Oliver enthusiastically.  
"Yeah, or injury, age-"  
"Death." he interrupted "Don't ruin this."  
"Sorry. Are you gonna stay in there, or come along to check on Harry?"  
He sighed "Might as well make sure my best Seeker is alive." he pushed the shower curtain back and crawled out, his uniform soaking wet. When they arrived at the hospital wing, Harry was already awake and holding something in his arms, with a devastated look on his face.  
"There you are." said Fred "Listen, your father's a bit worried, told him you're fine and Madam Pomfrey left this for you." he handed Jane a glass with not more than a sip of the yellow potion "Madam Pomfrey said it's a bit too strong, so you shouldn't drink too much of it..." he looked over to Oliver "Good to see you Wood, thought you might drown yourself."  
"Contemplated it." said Oliver and walked over to Harry "Whatchu got there Harry?" he asked carefully.  
"My Nimbus..." said Harry quietly and shoving the inside of the bag he was holding, revealing nothing more than shattered wood. "It flew into the Whomping Willow-"  
"Oh no-" Oliver looked like he was holding in tears "Oh no, no, no, not the Nimbus-"  
"Here you go." said Fred, handing Oliver another glass with Euphoria "Man, maybe I should become a healer, I've really got this figured out."  
"People would enter St. Mungos in one piece and leave in two." said Jane before finally drinking the potion and Oliver followed her example, letting out a loud giggle. Then she sat down next to Harry's bed "Could you two leave? I need a second alone with Harry."  
"Sure." said Fred "But let's hang out later, yeah?"  
"Sure." she waited for the two boys to leave and took Harry's hand "How are you feeling Harry?"  
He shrugged his shoulders "I don't even know... I don't understand why there were so many dementors, I don't understand why I'm too weak to stay conscious in their presence- I don't understand what I heard-"  
"What did you hear?"  
"I heard a woman screaming... I mean I heard it last time on the train, but this time I could hear words- not Harry, please no, take me-" he said sadly.  
"So, your mother?"  
"Yeah..."  
"You know the Dementors make you relive your worst memories..."  
"I know-"  
"There were about a hundred of them Harry, and you know they affect you more than others."  
"But why?"  
"Because they feast on sadness, anger, fear, trauma- you've got a lot of that... as much as it sucks to say, they affect you so much because you've been through so much."  
"You've been through it with me-"  
"Harry, I met Voldemort with you and looked in the mirror with you. That's like the most traumatic stuff that happened. I mean sure, they killed my mom but at least I still have my father- it sound bad to say... it's just nobody at this school has been through as much as you Harry. I wish it were different, honestly. If I could take that burden from your shoulders, I would. Without hesitation. But it shows that you are strong, you're still standing. Malfoy can joke all he wants, he couldn't survive half of it. That's because you have people who love you, I love you, and we'll always be there for you."  
He smiled weakly in response and squeezed her hand "I love you too. I just really want them to find Sirius Black and get those stupid Dementors away from here."  
"Is there something else on your mind?"  
"Maybe..." he stared blankly for a second "It would sound stupid..."  
"Don't you ever listen during class, Harry Potter? I am stupid. Can't shock me."  
"Right, I forgot you were our school's personal bimbo."  
"Harry, I'm blushing, you think I'm beautiful? But I'm not even blonde-"  
He just rolled his eyes "No I'm just calling you brain damaged beyond repair. Anyways, you are rather indifferent about the Grim, right?"  
"I mean it hasn't killed us so far- not successfully anyways."  
"Don't make a big deal out of this, okay? But- I saw it again, this time in the clouds..."  
"Ha-" said Jane unsure "Ha-" she took another long break "Y'know... Hermione said-"  
"I don't want to know what Hermione said."  
"No, no hear me out, it actually made sense. She said the only reason we see the Grim, like notice the shape of the clouds or see black dogs staring at us from between the bushes, is because we're thinking about them. We notice because they're engraved in our minds. Maybe it's nothing to worry about, just good, old-fashioned paranoia."  
"You don't understand. It wasn't like when we look for shapes in the clouds and you point at something that's clearly a monkey and say it's a bulldozer-"  
"It was clearly a bulldozer you monkey."  
"Not the point and no it definitely wasn't. The point is, it was definitely the Grim. Not an open to interpretation Grim but an actual dog just printed right into the sky, clear as day. The tea-leaves were open to interpretation, could've been a sheep or a bloody unicorn for all I care. Clouds don't do that unless they're waiting for you to die."  
"Didn't know clouds were your new mortal enemies."  
"Jane!"  
"Sorry! Listen, I'm just trying to find a logical explanation that doesn't involve you dying. Because honestly, I'd prefer if you didn't die until we're both grey and old if that's okay. besides, I don't understand all that Divination crap... I took it because you took it and because I thought I could just slack off and get a nice Outstanding for being present, and now we are both carrying the black mark."  
"Yeah... I took it because Ron took it."  
"Bastard."  
"Absolutely."


	9. M I S C H I E F   M A N A G E D

It was well into December, when Fred and George took Jane aside to have a word with her. "We need to talk about Harry." said Fred.  
"Did something happen to him?" asked Jane nervously.  
"It absolutely did."  
"He's been forced to stay at Hogwarts, even for the next Hogsmeade visit, Hogsmeade is fantastic in the snow." said George.  
"And he's going to miss it."  
"Unless-" George took a piece of parchment from his back pocket "We were thinking..."  
"If Harry Potter was in possession of a certain map-"  
"The three of us know by heart-"  
"It might make poor Mr Potter's third year a little less miserable."  
"And you're telling me about it because...?" said Jane.  
"Because you're our number three." said George.  
"There's three of us, three have to agree."  
"It's your map." said Jane "Who am I to-"  
"It's our map."   
Fred chuckled "Communism, baby."  
"I think it's a fantastic idea." she said "I agree, we do all know it by heart, it's time to pass it on. Shan't be greedy."  
"Shan't be greedy." agreed Fred "I say one last adventure and then we pass it on tomorrow?"  
"Midnight?" said Jane.  
"Something unforgettable." said George.  
"Something that would make the Marauders proud." said Fred.  
"Something like..." Jane's eyes fell on a single Filibuster shining out from beneath Fred's bed "Do you know what I love about potions?"  
"The class?"  
"No, the thing itself. Once it's done, no matter what you put into a potion or do to a potion, it's going to keep it's original purpose."  
"Oh, Lupin you have an idea, don't you?" asked Fred shaking her shoulders "I love when you do that."  
"You see," said Jane "the Erumpent chips are so simple, yet so clever. Coated with a bit of anti-leakage solution and they won't explode unless the coat melts away-"  
"At any contact with liquid, except for the liquid it's containing." said George.  
"Follow me." said Jane, walking into their bathroom and climbing into the shower, "Just as I thought." with a successful smile, she unscrewed the the showerhead from its collar "Fascinating things aren't they? Shower heads."  
"They are?" asked George.  
"Yes," said Jane "Because you see, you could fill any sort of liquid into the shower head itself, and it wouldn't leak out, because there's no water pressure." she took her ink pot from her bag and let some of it drip into the shower head "See? Nothing's coming out. But-" she screwed the head back on and stepped out of the shower before turning the water on "add a bit of pressure and it all comes out." she held a finger under the blue water and pulled it out to show that it had indeed been painted blue as well.  
"So, we fill the showers with ink?" asked Fred.  
"Think... bigger." smiled Jane "You see, last year, you gave Harry a Filibuster, and Harry set it off during potions class- it was chaos, y'know? The Filibuster flew right into Malfoy's potion and it blew up everywhere. Malfoy's nose was huge."  
"Say, Lupin, are you talking about Swelling Solution?" asked George.  
"I most certainly am. How long does that take? Maybe twenty minutes tops. Mix it with some ink, fill it in every single showerhead coated with anti-leakage solution to protect the head itself, wait for the morning to come. One unlucky person per dorm is going to be one huge blueberry, not to mention that the Head Boy-"  
"Bighead Boy is going to be Blue Bighead Boy!" said Fred "Lupin, I bow down in front of you."  
"Yes, yes." said Jane "Kiss my ring unworthy peasants. So, how do we feel about it?"  
"Very, very happy." said George "We'll cook that up in no time."  
"Until midnight then." said Jane.  
"See you midnight." said the twins and Jane left their dorm. Just as she was about to leave however, the conversation from inside the room caught her ear.  
"Why the bloody hell can't I find a girl like Jane?" she heard Fred's muffled voice through the door "Y'know, why can't Angelina be a bit more like Jane. Easy going, no drama because of the map, brilliant ideas-"  
"Oh stop it already." said George "I told you to stop with Angelina, that's going nowhere. You want a girl like Jane, guess what, Jane's a girl like Jane."  
"Yeah, but Jane's our friend."  
"Angi used to be our friend too, before you started getting in your weekly fights."  
"See? Who am I to ruin another friendship like that. Besides, she's y'know- pass me the dried nettles will you? Thanks."  
"She's rather pretty though, wouldn't you say so?"  
"I mean- oh sod off, I don't know. Kind of weird to even think about it. Angelina really hates her, did you notice?"  
"It's mutual, believe me. I think Jane might be a bit jealous. Think about it, she might have a crush on you-"  
That was a little too much. Jane turned burning red and quickly snuck back down to her own dorm and tried to focus on reading a book instead. Jealous, she wasn't jealous. If anything, she was annoyed by Angelina, who used every chance she got to show Jane just how much better she was at everything. She really wanted to punch George in that moment. She always tried to act casually around Fred and George just- dropped the biggest bomb. But boys always talked, didn't they. About everything. One second it was Jane and then they'd go on to talk about Quidditch or make fun of Percy or discuss George's crush on Alicia Spinnet. She was just unfortunate enough to eavesdrop in exactly that moment, they probably already moved on with their conversation.  
Eventually she dropped the book, reading was something she was never particularly good at. She'd read two paragraphs, lose track and start again, it was exhausting. Instead she went to visit her father and played a game of chess with him before going to dinner. "Everything is ready." announced George quietly "We were thinking, should we fill Lee in?"  
"You've sure been doing a lot of thinking for one day." joked Jane "Yeah, Lee's saying goodbye as well, isn't he."  
"Easy going." muttered Fred and tapped Lee on the shoulder to begin whispering their plan in his ear. Lee just nodded very excitedly and gave a thumbs up to both Jane and George. After dinner they all hung around the common room for a little longer.  
"The real question is," said Ron, taking the bag of Cockroach Clusters from the gift basket they'd gotten Harry "who's brave enough to try one of these? Come on!" he roared "One Gryffindor has to be brave enough."  
"You're once again confusing bravery and stupidity, Ronald." said Hermione before looking at Jane "Right up your alley then."  
"Haha." said Jane dryly "Why don't you go for it, Mione? High in protein, a healthy snack for in between."  
"Don't bother." said Neville, taking the bag from Ron's hands "Trevor loves those." he took one of the cockroaches and Trevor instantly snatched it from him.  
"What about the blood-flavoured lollipops?" asked Ron next, holding them out to the others.  
"Y'know what?" said Jane "Those I can get behind."  
Ron gasped and held his fingers up in a cross "Vampire!"  
Jane flashed her teeth and snapped after his hands "Blooood I need bloood-"  
"Here you go." laughed Ron before sticking one of the lollipops in Jane's mouth "Enjoy tuts."  
"Oh- delicious." she said with a disgusted grimace "Y'know it's the taste of iron that really does it for me. Harry, go ahead, try one of the charm chocs."  
"What do they do?"  
"Oh you'll see." said Seamus "Give him a-" looked through the pack "Here, cat."  
Harry ate the candy Seamus had passed him and meowed loudly, before making a few purring noises. "Here you try one." he said to Hermione.  
"I'm not doing a cat though." said Hermione darkly, probably remembering her experience with Polyjuice Potion.  
"Here you go then." said Ron and in the next second uncontrollable bird noises escaped from Hermione's mouth.  
"Neville-" said Seamus and passed him another chocolate, resulting in loud elephant noises.   
"Let me try." said Dean Thomas and let Seamus choose another candy for him and shortly after, Dean let out a loud hyena laugh.  
"D'you understand what they're saying?" asked Harry Jane.  
"Oh yeah, actually." she said "Here Ron, try." Ron roared loudly like a lion and Jane listened with a serious face "He says... he says you're an idiot, Harry."  
"Unbelievable!" said Ron "Word for word Jane. Here, try a wolf."  
"Oh yes, Professor Lupin!" said Seamus "For research purposes."  
"Ah." grinned Jane and ate the candy, resulting in a loud howl "Now, can anyone tell me whether that was a true wolf's howl or a werewolf's howl?"  
"Bet Hermione knows." said Ron.  
"It was a true wolf." said Hermione "They're distinguishable by-" Jane hit her in the face with a pillow.  
After they all went to bed, Jane waited until shortly before midnight, putting on black clothes and thick socks so she wouldn't make any noise with her boots, and snuck up into the boys dorm "Everything ready?" she whispered and George nodded with a jar full of Swelling Solution in one hand, the coating potion in the other and six others standing on the table next to him.  
"Filch is in the dungeons right now." said Fred, pointing at the map "We can work our way down, using this way-" he traced the secret passageway with his wand "we should also avoid Dumbledore on his way to the kitchens."  
"Man's got serious issues." said Lee, shaking his head.  
"Alright then-" said Fred "One last time, here we go." They snuck out of the common room as quietly as possible to not wake Sir Cadogan and headed down to the Hufflepuff common room. "They're all asleep." mouthed Fred and followed the map's direction to open the door.  
"Those hippies." whispered Lee, looking around the yellow room filled with plants.  
"You can't tell me this wouldn't be perfect for Neville." said George "I wonder what he's doing in Gryffindor when he's the posterchild for Hufflepuffs."  
"Hey." said Jane, slapping his arm "Neville's got the heart of a lion, don't let his kind demeanour fool you."  
"Yeah yeah, whatever." whispered Fred "You go and take care of the girl's showers and we'll do the boy's. And be quiet."  
"I'm not stupid Weasley." she muttered before heading up into the girl's dorms. It was a question of seconds, sneaking into the shower, coating the head, filling the tinted potion into them and heading back out. Before she knew it, she was done with all the showers and went back down into the common room where the boys were already waiting.  
"What took you so long?" asked Lee.  
"Are you kidding?" she hissed "You're three, I'm one-"  
"Hello?" came a voice from upstairs and they all held their hands before their mouths "Barney? Are you here to eat bean?"  
Jane held back a laughter "She's sleep-walking, come on." From the Hufflepuff room they crawled down a secret passageway until they arrived at Ravenclaw tower, where they sabotaged the showers just as quickly and headed off into the dungeons. "Where exactly is Filch now?"  
"Second floor." said Fred and stopped at a stone wall where he whispered "Hinkypunk." and revealed a door, which led right into the Slytherin common room. Jane had been here once before, disguised as Pansy Parkinson, to find out whether Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin, but the dark atmosphere of the room still surprised her. She found the windows allowing view into the Black Lake rather fascinating, but there was a certain cold feeling to the room, despite the warm fire always cracking in the fireplace.   
"Good luck." mouthed George before the three of them headed down to the boy's dorms and Jane snuck up into the girl's dorms. She finished her task just as quickly but couldn't help herself from letting a tiny dose of itching powder trickle between Millicent Bulstrode's sheets.  
Their very last stops were the dorms of Head Boy and Head Girl and the prefects bathroom.  
"All done." said Lee proudly once they made it out of the common room and headed back up to Gryffindor tower and into their dorm.  
"It's been a good run." said Fred, laying out the map on the ground.  
"Wands out." said George and they all took their wands and held it over the map.  
"Thank you Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs." said Jane.  
"On three." said Lee "One... two... three."  
"Mischief Managed." the four of them said in unison and tapped the map, watching the ink slowly fade away.


	10. B L A C K

Who would've thought that a day with such a happy start, could have such a terrible ending.   
Though her sprits were high, Jane woke up with a bit of a melancholy feeling. She wanted Harry to have the map, he deserved it, but it hurt to let go of this part of her life. Sneaking around at night, with the twins and Lee, not a worry in the world to steal from the kitchen, prank the Slytherins, redecorate the Great Hall, turn Moaning Myrtle's bathroom into a waterpark, change the labels on all of Snape's potions ingredients, hiding Stink Pellets in the history of magic classroom... they really did have a good run, who knew how simple it would be to carry on with the knowledge that a teacher or Filch could be hiding behind every corner. But maybe it was a new beginning, introducing Harry to the wonderful world of mischief.  
The morning was complete chaos. As soon as they stepped out of the calm, peaceful Gryffindor common room, Fred, George, Lee and Jane heard the upset screams coming from all over the castle. "Seems like some people made the mistake of showering." grinned Lee and pointed down the staircase were a Ravenclaw girl with ginormous, blue swollen head, shoulders and arms, was dragging her tiny feet behind her, asking for someone to please get her some Deflating Draft.  
Snape and a few other teachers were running around between the swollen students and applying the draft to their swollen parts. "It's like when Lockhart let all those Pixies loose." said Jane pointing at the blue faces.  
"Will you be coming along to pass the map on?" asked Fred when Jane sat down for breakfast.  
"Oh no, I'm going directly with Neville, helping him to pick out something for his grandma. But offer Harry my best regards."  
"Will do." he agreed "D'you wanna meet up at the Three Broomsticks later on? About four-ish? That's when the older folk get their buzz on, it's always fun to watch."  
"Yeah sure." she finished her breakfast and went to get ready before waiting for Neville in the common room.  
"Are you getting anything for your father?" he asked.  
"Nah," said Jane "I have like four sickles left."  
"I can lend you some if you want."  
Jane just laughed "No worries, I made him a nice card."  
He turned a little red "Didn't mean to-"  
"Nev, don't worry." she grinned "It's tradition." Once everyone was ready and McGonagall had assembled and counted them in the courtyard, it was time to go down to the village. Neville talked in great detail over a book, his grandmother had sent him, covering almost everything there was to know about herbology, ever, and Jane tried her hardest to make sense of all the different names, appearances, effects, classifications and locations, but herbology had never been something she was particularly good at. At the end Neville settled for a fancy perfume from Gladrags Wizardwear, saying it was by far the least likely to offend his grandmother in some way.  
"She kind of things I'm a big tosser, y'know?" admitted Neville.  
"You people keep acting like that's a bad thing." said Jane "I've gotten used to it and guess what? People don't have any expectations for me."  
"Yeah, but you're doing that on purpose." said Neville "You're not actually stupid or even lazy, I've seen you work... you just prefer to be rebellious. I mean the Grindylows, how you taught DADA, what you did tonight, the way you can make anything explode, that takes a lot, doesn't it. I think you're actually really bright."  
"Oh no, you've been bamboozled." joked Jane, trying to hide just how much it meant to her for someone to not call her stupid for once.  
"Hey Neville!" shouted Seamus from the big fountain "We're going to look at the Shrieking Shack, are you coming?"  
"You wanna come with?" asked Neville but Jane shook her head.  
"No, I'm meeting the others at the Three Broomsticks in a minute."  
"Oh, alright, see you later then. And thanks, for helping-"  
"Yeah sure, see you Nev." she hurried over to the Three Broomsticks.  
"Jane?" asked Harry "Do you have a second?"  
"I'm in a bit of a hurry Harry, later?"  
"I- I just need to talk to you."  
"Can't it wait?" she sighed.  
"No- I- please." his voice broke a little and Jane spun around to see Harry with tears in his eyes, Ron and Hermione standing helplessly behind him.  
"Oh, Harry, honey-" Jane quickly pulled him into a hug and caressed his head "I'm so sorry sweetie, what's wrong? What happened?"  
"Can we talk alone for a second?" he whispered.  
"Yes, yes sure, come on." she took his hand and led him over to a bench between two shops "What's wrong?" she asked again as he leaned his face into her shoulder and began sobbing quietly.  
"They were friends." he whispered "My father and- and Sirius Black. They were best friends."  
Jane just looked at him, unsure what to say.  
"My parents trusted him. With their lives! He's the one who betrayed them! He's the one who told Voldemort where to find them-" he let out a broken sob "He- Sirius Black... he's my godfather."  
"Oh Harry-" said Jane quietly "I-"  
"He's the reason they're dead. He was their best man! They were like brothers! And he- I hate him. I hate him so much."  
"I know." said Jane quietly "I hate him too. You know they'll find him. He'll get what he deserves."  
"You know what he deserves." said Harry darkly "I will find him and I will kill him myself. I'll make sure he pays for what he did to them."  
It wasn't like he didn't have every right to be angry, but Jane had never seen him like this. There was real hatred in his usually warm, soft green eyes. "He's not worth besmirching your own soul." she said kissing him on the forehead "He deserves to rot in Azkaban, have the Dementors take the rest of him."  
"Oh they don't affect him!" he said angrily "Twelve years he spent there without going completely mad. Escaped without a trouble in the world, came here, unbothered by them. Who's paying for it? You and me. He'll just escape again. No, I won't hesitate if I see him."  
"Then I'll be right there with you." said Jane "Come on, why don't we go back to the castle?"  
"Yeah, alright." he said quietly, taking her hand and climbing down to Honeydukes' cellar. He was awful quiet for the way and just sniffing from time to time. Together they crawled into his bed and he explained in great detail, how he overheard a conversation between McGonagall, Hagrid, Cornelius Fudge and Madam Rosmerta.  
"Who's Pettigrew?" asked Jane at some point during the story.  
"He was a friend of theirs as well. He died for them, for my parents. Black murdered his friend in cold blood. Wait-" he took out a photo-album "Best man..." he muttered, flipping through the pages until he found what he was looking for "It's disgusting how much he looks like you." he said and Jane looked at the picture as well. It was Harry's parents on their wedding day, and there he was, Sirius Black, smiling a handsome smile. If Jane didn't know it was him, she'd think she was looking at a picture of herself. From the pictures of Black, with his waxy face, she'd already noticed how they had identical eyes but it went far beyond that. They had the same black hair, the same chin, jaw and cheekbone structure, the kind that would look firm and harsh if they weren't always smiling.  
"Do you think he was already working for Voldemort?" he asked quietly "D'you think he stood there, on my father's wedding day, knowing he'd have him killed?" his voice got a little louder again and he angrily stared at the picture.  
A moment later the dormitory door opened and Harry quickly closed his eyes. "Harry?" it was Ron.  
Jane played a little with Harry's hair "Shh, he's sleeping. It's been a rough few hours."  
"Yeah." said Ron quietly "Wish I could help."  
"For now, he just needs some peace."  
"Alright then. My brother's been asking if you're okay, by the way."  
"Oh right... I forgot- tell them I'm sorry."  
"Yeah-" he said confused "I'll tell him you're looking after Harry."  
As soon as Ron had left, Harry's eyes shot back open and he began grinding his teeth. "Harry, are you okay?"  
"I don't know..." he admitted "I have to- think for a while."  
"I'll leave you alone a bit, yeah? I'll go see my father for a second... I need to talk to him."  
"Come back later, okay?" he asked quietly.  
"Of course." she gave him another kiss on the top of his head before storming down to her father's room, feeling everything but kind and peaceful. "You weren't going to tell me?" she asked angrily.  
"Tell you wha-"  
"Oh, I don't know? Funny to find out, James Potter's best friend, Harry's godfather, James' best man was a man called Sirus Black! Really bloody interesting, you'd think someone who called James his best friend as well would know that!"  
"Jane, calm do-"  
"No, no, absolutely not. Was Peter Pettigrew your friend as well? Hm? Another friend who died by his hands? Maybe he's crossing you all of his list, maybe you're next? Who knows he clearly wants his godson dead, I'm curious, what else weren't you telling me? Maybe he's my godfather as well, oh that would be interesting, wouldn't it?"  
"He's not." said Remus calmly "James Potter was your godfather. I didn't... I mean I wanted to tell you but it was all a bit much, wasn't it?"  
"Sirius Black betrayed Harry's parents! He told Voldemort where to find his best friends and his own godson! He almost got my best friend killed! I cannot believe you'd just not tell me about this? What else is there you're not telling me? And what the bloody hell did you just say, James Potter was my godfather?"  
"Well, yes... it's all a bit of a weird situation... isn't it?"  
"So you- you and Black were really friends?"  
"Something like that-" he said quietly.  
"Am I next on his list? Was he the one who got my mother killed as well? Is he trying to wipe you all out? Did he have something to do with the Longbottom's as well?"  
"You're spiralling Jane. And I doubt Sirius would ever do anything to hurt you..."  
"Oh Sirius hm? Good old pal Sirius. Why, hm? How would you even know-" she felt her heart racing in her chest, she barely ever got this worked up about anything. "I'm going for a walk."  
"Not outside, are you?"  
"No, I'm not an idiot." she walked down into the hallway with the wide open windows and looked out to the forest, when the black dog caught her attention. "Bollocks." she muttered and swung out of the hallway into the grass "Hey there, good dog." she said quietly, walking towards the black dog "Grim my ass, you're not some death omen at all are you?" it looked rather shabby and starved "Where are your owners, hm? Did you come up here from the village?" the dog wagged its tail and got up, running down towards Hagrid's hut. "You're not Hagrid's are you? I mean, no offense, but Fang's in pretty good condition, compared to you. Even Fluffy was in perfect health, that three-headed beast. Oh hey, get away from that." she said quickly, the dog was getting a little too close to the Whomping Willow, but it didn't even move. Instead the dog jumped into a hole.  
"No bloody way... the secret passageway-" she looked down into the hole "If this is my Alice moment, so it shall be." she jumped into the hole as well, and crawled through spider webs and dirt until she arrived at the other side, in a rather dirty, wooden building, the dog nowhere to be seen. "Man... if Neville could see me right now- not stupid, right." she shook her head and went to crawl back into the hole.  
"Not now." said a voice from behind her and she spun around, only to look at the blank wall behind her. "Man did Remus never teach you about stranger danger?"  
She laughed nervously "Harry's been joking about me talking to animals and all that, but I really doubt that... dog?"  
"Not quite." said the voice, more croaking than sounding "Ama- do you have a wand with you?"  
"No." she lied "Who are you? What is going on?" she took a step forward to look around the corner.  
"Don't move Ama- just- promise you don't have a wand."  
"I promise." she said, her shaking hand wandering to the pocket she was keeping it in "Why don't you come out, and we can talk face to face?"  
She heard the wood creak under a heavy step. Her hands were both freezing cold, and sweating as she took a careful step backwards. She could've punched herself in the head for following a strange dog down a secret rabbit hole, who even did something this stupid? But the dog- it had her eyes, it seemed so trustworthy, so familiar, the way it was looking at her. The wood creaked again, and a figure emerged from the dark corner. For a second, Jane thought she was looking at a skeleton come to life, the waxy skin flexing over his bones was almost grey, his hair, dirty and messy was hanging down to his elbows and a wave of hatred rushed through Jane's body "Sirius Black." she said through gritted teeth "You've made a mistake." she took her wand and pointed it right at him.  
He just smiled "You liar, you said you didn't have it."  
Her entire face twitching, killing him with a spell just wouldn't be enough. In one big move she charged at him and punched him right in his face "You betrayed James and Lily Potter! You killed you friend! You ruined my best friend's life! You are a disgusting excuse for a human being, a filthy-" she punched him again "monster! And you call me a liar?"  
he rolled away and got back on his feet "Good punch, really. I knew you'd impress me. Listen Ama, I need to talk to you."  
"Who the bloody hell is Ama?" she asked, keeping him at distance with her wand.  
"You are, no?"  
"No- what?"  
"Then- then what's your name?"  
"That's hardly any of your business."  
"I'm just curious."  
"I- I'm Jane. Jane Lupin. Ring a bell?"  
He frowned terribly "Jane? What kind of name is Jane?"  
Jane was a little too perplexed "Mine?"  
"Oh god no." he shook his head "Remus really butchered this... Jane- I could barf."  
"Hey dude, what's your problem? And you're in no position to call my father by his first name-"  
"Ah calm down-" he croaked "I can call him puddin for all I care, I can't believe he let you walk around with a name like Jane, that's just insulting."  
"Hey, fuck you dude." she said "You're Sirius Black, are you serious?"  
"Oh original. Just put that wand away so that we can have a normal conversation for a second, will you?"  
She suddenly remembered why she was so mad at him "I don't think so. Incarcerous!" before the ropes could fully wrap around him, Sirius Black had already shaken them off with a move of his hand.  
"Alright, playtime is over. Expelliarmus." he wasn't holding a wand, simply moved his hand, but Jane's wand flew to the other side of the room nevertheless "And now sit, Jane." he moved his hand again and Jane's knees gave in, letting her fall to the ground.  
"What the hell?"  
"Wandless magic." he explained simply "Now, Ama, do I have your attention?"  
"Don't know who the hell Ama is, but I sure hope she's listening."   
He rolled his eyes and sat down cross-legged "You are. Amaris, actually. It means child of the moon, you see? I put actual thought in this name, after him... and then he just calls you Jane? Why would he do that?"  
"Maybe he really likes Jane Austen- what the hell are you talking about?"  
"Haven't you figured it out?" he asked, staring intensely "We look exactly alike-"  
"Hey, I don't know when you looked into a mirror the last time, but you're by far the ugliest piece of trash I've ever seen."  
"Lovely." he smiled "You see, one might think after living with Remus for twelve years-"  
"Thirteen."  
"After living with Remus for twelve years you should be an angel, but instead you're just like me... even though your mother was a bit of a wild-card herself. Look at you, you're even wearing my old jacket and you still don't get it?"  
She looked down at the baggy leather-jacket "It was my father's."  
"Yeah, no shit. What am I saying right now? Amaris Black, I am your father."  
Jane just broke out in hysteric laughter "Yeah right! You really expect me to believe that? Do I look like an idiot to you?"  
"Is that- Is that a trap question? Don't you remember? I even sent you a dream, to make you remember. Of you when you were little, how James and I introduced you and Harry to each other. We'd been so much like brothers, we wanted you two to grow up as brother and sister."  
"No." Jane shook her head "I have a father-"  
"Yes, and I'm so happy you do." he said sadly "I was lucky... I made James your godfather but he died... I was afraid Remus might not listen to me-"  
"You betrayed James."  
"I didn't, just- let me tell my story, will you?"  
"Why should I?" she asked angrily "I should call the Dementors right now."  
"Fascinating idea." he laughed "They can kill us both then. It's odd how they're after you as well, isn't it?"  
"Maybe."  
"You see, nobody really knows you exist. They know Jane Lupin exists but then they see you and look right in my eyes, see my face, smell my blood, they don't know Sirius Black has a daughter, she's not registered in their heads, so all they see is me."  
Jane shook her head again "No. I am not the daughter of a murderer!"  
"For once you're right!" he laughed "I didn't kill anyone. Not yet!"  
"You keep your hands off Harry!"  
"I'm not talking about Harry! I'm talking about the real traitor! The one who really killed all those muggles and FRAMED ME! Am, you have to believe me! I am your father and I am innocent-"  
"Screw you." she said calmly, before pushing him away and rolling over to grab her wand from the floor "You are nothing but a deranged murderer and a liar." she hissed "You'll pay for what you did to Lily and James, and to Harry."  
He smiled "When I saw you and Harry together today... I was so happy, y'know? That's all we wanted for you two, to always have each other. I'm glad Remus made sure of that anyways."  
Jane furrowed her eyebrows, he didn't sound like a murderer who wanted to see Harry dead "Prove it."  
"Prove what?"  
"Prove you didn't betray them. Prove you didn't kill anyone. Prove you're-" she didn't want him to be her father, she had one, a perfect one "innocent."  
"I can." he nodded eagerly "He's here, you see? The man who really committed the crime, he's at Hogwarts right now."  
"If you say it was my father I'll kill you on the spot."  
"Oh don't be ridiculous, Remus couldn't kill a fly- well unless it's the full moon anyways."  
"You know?"  
"Of course I know, dummy. James knew, Lily knew, and Peter Pettigrew knew."  
"The man who you killed-"  
"Ah yes, the infamous story. Blew him to shreds, didn't I? That filthy little rat."  
"So you confess?"  
"No, it was him! Peter Pettigrew! He betrayed James and Lily, he murdered those muggles, he framed me, he-"  
"He's dead. He's not at Hogwarts."  
"Oh but see, that's where you're wrong!" an insane spark rushed through his eyes and Jane wondered just how safe it really was to be in a room with that man. "He's the rat! That redhead boy's rat!"  
"Ah-" said Jane, looking over to the exit. The room had no doors, just the hole in the wall- they were in the Shrieking Shack. She couldn't even make a run for it. "The rat, of course. Well, I better go tell Dumbledore then that Scabbers is the one who actually committed the crimes, eh?"  
"No, no, you don't believe me-" said Black anxiously "He's an animagus, just like me, just like James- Ama believe me-"  
"I totally believe you." she said, crawling over to the hole in the wall "I'll go take care of it for you right now-" he snapped the wand from her hand and pointed it at her.  
"You're a terrible liar, Am. I'm so sorry about this. Incarcerous." A second later, Jane sat on the floor, held down by thick ropes.  
"ARE YOU KIDDING?" she screamed, trying to shake them off "And you expect me to trust you, you psychopath? LET ME GO!"  
"I'm really sorry Am, I need you to believe me first. I can't let you go and give me away. It'll all be over soon, I promise."  
"It's almost Christmas! You can't do this-"  
"Merry Christmas." he said surprised "I really wish the circumstances were different."  
Jane stared with disbelief as he suddenly shrunk down to the form of the black dog and disappeared through the hole. "That piece of shit-" he really took her wand and everything. But Jane was determined, she wouldn't die in the Shrieking Shack and become one of the many ghosts haunting it. She began rocking back and forth until she finally fell on her side and with helpless little moves, she slowly rolled herself over to the hole in the wall. Moving like a caterpillar, she slowly pushed her body up the long tunnel, inch by inch, the ropes growing a little tighter with every move. She figured she was lucky, Black hadn't wrapped one around her neck as well or she'd very well choke herself to death.  
She finally found herself back on school grounds, and the Whomping Willow seemed almost asleep. Jane looked down the small hill, if she got it right, she'd roll right into Hagrid's Hut. Otherwise however, she'd fall right off the deep cliff. With a helpless sigh she pushed herself over and rolled down, right into the wall.  
"Hello?" boomed Hagrid's voice and Jane heard him run out of his hut "Jane, wha' are yeh doin'?"  
"Can you untie me, please?" she forced the words out "Very tight."  
"Wha' happened ter yeh?"  
"Hagrid, please-"  
"Oh yeah, righ'" with one hand he picked her up and carried her into the hut, and with a big knife he cut through the ropes "Now, wha' happened?"  
"I-" she wasn't really sure what to say " can't tell you, sorry. I have to talk to my... father. But thanks for helping me." she ran outside and up the hill right back into the castle and Remus's room "I asked what else you weren't telling me, and I think I deserve an answer." she said, standing in his door, covered in dirt.  
"Bloody hell, Jane what happened?"  
"Dad, if there is something important you have to tell me, tell me now."  
His lips parted but no sound came out.  
"Who is Sirius Black?" she asked anxiously "Why do I look exactly like him? Like why do we have the exact same face? Why don't you and I have anything in common?"  
"Jane-" he stopped and sighed "Sit down." Jane crouched down on his chair and put her arms around her legs. "When you were a year old- I was called to come down to the Ministry." he sat down on his desk and rubbed his face "Sirius Black was caught in a muggle pub- he'd killed anybody in it... when they found him he was just laughing hysterically- they didn't even grant him a trial. But he'd been begging for day without end, for him to get just a minute to talk to me."  
Jane bit her lip and hid her face behind her arms, hoping this story would go into a different direction.  
"They wouldn't leave me alone with him, of course, but it wasn't necessary either way... Black only had one thing to say to me. He said 'look after them.' That was all, just that and I knew exactly what it meant. I didn't even want to do him a favour, I hated him for what he'd done but I knew- I knew that it had nothing to do with... with you. You see, only a week before James and Lily had Harry, Sirius and his- friend- had a girl called Amaris Black."  
Jane closed her eyes and a tear fell down her cheek. That was the name Black had called her.  
"I went down to your house- just in time... death-eaters were on one of their typical rummages, and found your muggleborn mother. I couldn't save her- I could only save the child, only you. I wouldn't have been allowed to keep you if I'd told the ministry who you really were- because people with lycanthropy can't be godparents or adopt... so I faked all of your records and that's how Jane Lupin was born. You deserved a home- a father at least. Lily and James weren't there anymore so I took you in and raised you as my own- Jane I love you with all my heart you have to understand that-"  
"Yeah-" she said quietly and got up "I understand... I think I'll go get some sleep."  
"Jane-"  
"See you in the morning..." she tried to hold back the tears on her way back to the common room. A mass murderer was her father, her father wasn't really her father, her godfather was dead- betrayed by her father- it was so messy, it was so overwhelming and so confusing. What was Jane supposed to do now? Tell everyone where Black was hiding? Snitch on her own flesh and blood? What if he was telling the truth, what if he was innocent-  
"Hey Jane-" said Fred when she entered the common room "Hey, are you okay? What happened to you?"  
"Not now, okay?" she said and ran down to her dorm. She changed out of the muddy clothes, threw the jacket she'd worn like an armour since she could remember into a corner, washed her face, ran up to the boy's dorms and climbed right into Harry's bed "Are you awake?" she whispered.  
In response he turned around, his eyes were red and he looked just as exhausted as Jane "Shit day, hm?"  
"You could call it that." agreed Jane "Can I crash here tonight?"  
"Yeah, sure." said Harry, giving part of his blanket up for her "What happened to you?"  
"Well-" she sighed "It's kind of a funny story. You see- turns out my real father is a murderous maniac, the man I thought was my father lied to me for twelve years, your father is my godfather, and my real name isn't even Jane."  
Harry looked beyond confused "What?"  
She sighed "I just had a very long talk with my f- with Professor Lupin-" she swallowed hard, no he was still her father, it wasn't like he did something wrong "He told me quite a lot... I'm not his daughter- not really. Before Black was sent to Azkaban he asked to see him and told him to look after me. My mother was already dead when he arrived, but he could save me before the death eaters killed me... your father was my godfather, and my- biological father is yours... my father is- Sirius Black."


	11. M I D N I G H T

Nothing came easy to Jane since finding out that Sirius Black was her real, biological father. Harry still resented him just as much and whenever the topic came up, there would be an awkward tension between the two of them, with her trying to fake the same resentment, and Harry trying to play it down. They both had promised that their feelings for each other weren't going to change, but the truth was, things couldn't be more different. On one hand, it meant they were basically family. Her father was his godfather and vice versa. If James hadn't died, or if Sirius hadn't went to Azkaban, or both, they would've grown up like brother and sister On the other hand, Harry resented Black and Jane knew, now that it was out in the open, Harry didn't really feel like he could trust her anymore. And for good reason.  
She made the decision to keep the Shrieking Shack secret, at least until she figured out, if maybe there was truth behind what Sirius had told her. The problem was, she Ron kept losing the stupid rat. Harry still wanted Sirius dead, Jane just wanted him to be innocent.  
But it was more than just the crumbling relationship with Harry, that kept Jane up at night.She felt like she had lost herself. Jane, Amaris, or whatever her name was, she didn't know how to talk to Remus, she felt constantly confused by whether it made her a Black or if she'd always be a Lupin. After all, she didn't even know how to address him anymore, her father, Remus Lupin. She would jump around between calling him Remus, Professor Lupin and an awkward father. And usually made it her mission to avoid him completely. It wasn't fair to him, she wasn't angry with him she was just so damn confused. She always had that nagging feeling of course, that feeling that they were so different and Sirius Black was so familiar, but she never would've expected her life to just be a lie.  
Christmas came and went and Jane just told Hermione she wasn't feeling too good and stayed in her dorm for the entire day. She'd never felt more alone and it was all because she herself couldn't get her mind straight, because she suddenly didn't know how to talk to her father, who she'd been so close to her entire life. She waited for the entire day to pass, crawled up in her bed, ignoring all the buzz around her. Her roommates would check on her occasionally, especially Hermione was very concerned. It was late at night when Jane couldn't hold it anymore. Christmas was always such a special time, the celebration of love and family and she hadn't even seen her father. She took the card she made him and snuck out into the hallways. Ten minutes till midnight, she still didn't have her wand to light the way, and no map to help her avoid Filch.   
Blindly she felt her way down the dark passageways and stairs, walking on tip-toes and listening closely for the sounds of Mrs Norris or Filch's key jingling over the snoring of the portraits. She finally made it down to the second floor without breaking her neck. Two minutes till midnight. She raised her hand to a fist, ready to knock on the door but hesitated. She had hurt him again. All her life she wanted to make sure he always knew how much she loved him, that she didn't judge him, and here she stood, right outside his door, having hurt him again. It wasn't just guilt she felt. It was deep shame. She didn't know how she could look him in the eye. She remembered the talk they had at the beginning of the year, about how something would happen and he needed her to know that no matter what, he'd always love her.  
One minute till midnight. 'Just knock you idiot' she swallowed her tears and stared at the door, why was this so hard- he was still her father, it didn't matter that it wasn't blood. Family was so much more than that, otherwise she couldn't call Gryffindor a family. Otherwise she couldn't call Harry family. Remus was always there for her, even though he already lived in poverty, he managed to raise a child in what was the nicest home Jane could've asked for. Not because it was big with the nicest TV and a dozen bathrooms, but because he always made it feel like home. Cooking together, watching the Quidditch games together, him reading her to sleep, her crawling in his bed whenever one of them was sick. What did blood matter.   
Twenty seconds till midnight, she wiped the tears of her face, took a deep shaky breath and knocked three times before opening the door. He was still awake, sitting behind his desk and preparing the lesson plan for the new term. "I'm so sorry dad-" said Jane. Five seconds till midnight "Merry Christmas."   
"Merry Christmas Jane." he stood up and pulled her into a long hug. The clock struck midnight. For a while she just stood there and buried her face in his chest, unable to speak. She was relieved she'd made it on time but he looked so tired- why did she always have to make him feel so bad when he was working so hard on making her happy.  
"I'm so sorry dad- it- Sirius Black... I don't know-"  
"It's okay kid, it's all okay. I knew you'd need time. I'm just glad you came back."  
"But it was Christmas- I should've-"  
"It was the first day of Christmas Jane. Luckily, there's two. Go on, sit, I'll make some tea."  
She almost hated how warm he was towards her. Shouldn't he yell, tell her that she was a terrible daughter, why would he just stay so nice all the time- "Thanks." she mumbled when he handed her a steaming cup of Earl Grey.  
"Jane- do you have any questions? About Sirius or your mother or anything?"  
"Maybe... what was her name?"  
"Hazel Apophis. She was a Slytherin, very unusual, since both her parents were Muggles- but people really liked her, even the Slytherins. She was a lot like Sirius, a lot like you."  
"And were they happy?"  
"Very, just not in the way you'd expect. They were good friends while we still were at school- but they only went out for a short time. By the time you were born, they were long broken up... but they stayed friends, lived together as roommates and were going to raise you together. They really loved each other, but just as friends-" did Jane see a hint of jealousy in his face? "I- I hate Sirius for what he's done. But I know he really loved you- if that matters to you."  
"Maybe. But dad, what really matters... I hope you know that, you're still my father to me. I feel like a total ass for how I reacted, but you raised me and were always there- I appreciate it, really. I appreciate you and I absolutely still love you." she wiped some more tears off her face and sniffed quietly.  
He took her hand and smiled softly "I already loved you like my own daughter when Sirius was still around and I always will. We- Sirius and I- we were very close back then- we wanted to raise you together, y'know? Together with Hazel- and James was going to be that fun uncle hanging around all the time, bringing Harry and Lily along as well-"  
"Sounds like a really big family."  
"Oh it was. I don't know when Sirius joined Voldemort- I never even noticed anything different about him until it all happened-"  
He had to be innocent. How could he have such close friends without any of them noticing that something was really wrong. "Do you- do you ever think that maybe he's innocent? That maybe someone... framed him?"  
He looked a little sadder "I know you'd like that Jane but- all the evidence speaks against him..."  
"I mean he must've been a really good person at some point right? Do you really believe the Sirius you knew could've done anything like that? Do you think a man who just killed twelve muggles would beg to see you just to tell you to keep me safe? That seems very noble for a murderer, doesn't it?"  
"Even Voldemort has a favourite Death-Eater, Jane. It's not all good and evil. A man can commit horrible crimes and still love his daughter-"  
"Tell me about Peter Pettigrew."  
"What?"  
"Tell me about Peter Pettigrew. What was he like? What was your friendship to him like?"  
"Oh- I don't know... he was there with us, through it all, he really admired James and Sirius- he looked up to them so much and in the end he was brave enough to sand up to Sirius, only to die within seconds."  
"So you'd say, he died a hero?"  
"Everybody would."  
"And was his body ever found?"  
"Jane, why are you even asking this?"  
"Just seems odd- the twelve muggles were right there with Black but Pettigrew got blown up? Just obliterated? Nothing left?"  
"Jane, there were witnesses, they found his finger- Sirius was laughing- he killed all those people and was laughing. Jane I don't want to bad talk him, but we all had to accept that he is a m-"  
"Monster?" her nose twitched a little "I just wish it was different, that's all. The Blacks are already a rather pathetic family to stem from... I wish that at least he was different. I mean, what if I'm destined to be just like them?"  
"You need to let go of that idea. You can be whatever you want to be. You're not destined to be anything. They all chose their own path."  
Jane sat quietly for a second, unwilling to let it go. "What if Pettigrew was still alive?"  
"He's not-"  
"What if Pettigrew escaped? What if he cut off his own finger and left it there to frame Black? What if he somehow found a way to disappear before the ministry arrived? If he apparated or..."  
"Or turned into a rat-" he said quietly to himself "Stop Jane. Peter was not a murderer. He wasn't even particularly skilled with magic, McGonagall always gave him a bit of a hard time because of how incapable he was. And it's not just the murders- James trusted Sirius, he chose him as his secret keeper-"  
"Says who?"   
"Said James. He told Dumbledore."  
"Sirius never got a trial, they never used veritas serum or legilimency on him- how can you be so certain?"  
"Jane, why did you come back from that walk, covered in dirt, without your wand, suddenly asking about Black?"  
'Oh crap.' She needed a good lie- a very good lie "I was heated, and just wanted to let off some steam on the Quidditch pitch, hit a few Bludgers, but of course there were Dementors. It was like they could smell me, and like they wanted me. I just ran away, but I tripped and fell down a hill- lost my wand... and I couldn't help but wonder why the Dementors would target me like that, unless they thought I was who they were looking for-"   
"You lost your wand?"  
"Yeah..."  
"You went out, in the dark, to play Quidditch? And almost got yourself killed? AGAIN?"  
Would the truth, that she followed a strange dog down a hole, met Sirius Black and decided to keep it a secret cause her less trouble? Doubtful. "I know it was stupid... Harry was so upset and when Harry's upset I get upset..."  
He groaned loudly "I can't believe you'd be this reckless..." he lectured her for a little while longer, tiring himself out rather quickly and finally let Jane lay down in his lap, and told her about plans he had with Harry, to teach him a rather difficult spell to repel Dementors "You should probably join us-" he sighed "we'll have to get you a new wand of course, but the way they have it out for you, if you're going to be reckless, you should at least know how to fight them."  
"It's that spell Dumbledore cast during Quidditch, isn't it? The weirdest thing, a phoenix of nothing but light flew right past me."  
"That was a Patronus, and precisely the spell I'll try to teach you."  
"Is it that difficult?"  
"In a way, yes. Not only does it require a powerful witch but also a very strong, happy thought to hold on to while you cast the charm-" he yawned "It's late Jane, I'll bring you back to your tower... have you opened your presents yet?"  
She shook her head "Wasn't really in the spirit today. But Hermione told me Harry got a Firebolt-"  
"From whom?"  
"Well honestly, Hermione and McGonagall think it's from Black. But how could he afford something like a Firebolt?"  
"He didn't fly it, did he?"  
"No, they're testing it for jinxes."  
"Very well..." he nodded before walking Jane back up to her common room "You really should know better than to sneak around the castle at night. Filch could be waiting at any corner. Good night."  
"Night." she said and watched him disappear before crawling through the portrait hole, Sir Cadogan muttering angrily.  
"Ah, look who left her room." said Fred, when she entered the room.  
"It's alive?" shouted Lee with surprise.  
"Barely." yawned Jane "Merry Christmas to you."  
"Merry Christmas to you too." said George "Not going to sleep, are you? We haven't seen you all day-"  
"I'm kind of tired... let me just get something real quick." she went down to her dorm and blindly took a package from the end of her bed to the bathroom and unwrapped it.  
Nobody at the Shack, does that mean you believe me?  
Merry Christmas Ama, thought you might need this back.  
All you have to do is press the button.  
P.S. nice escape

Under the note lay her wand, clean and in one piece, and next to it, a pair of keys. Not normal keys but car-keys, for something of a brand named Triumph. She shook her head "Does that maniac know I'm thirteen?" but let the keys disappear in her pocket before hiding the small note deep in her trunk, underneath all of her clothes. Then she went back to the common room "So, how come you're all still awake?" Fred and George were both in their new Christmas jumpers, their mother sent them every year and Lee held his giant tarantula on his lap like it was a cat or sweet bunny.  
"It's the holidays." said George "And someone had a bad fight with someone, and now our dorm smells really bad."  
"Fred dumped Angelina again." said Lee "On Christmas."  
Fred sank deeper in his seat and stared at the ceiling "I panicked."  
"On Christmas!" said George "Who dumps their girlfriend during the holidays?"  
"I was panicking!" said Fred again "She was going on about how we should visit her family for the rest of the holidays."  
"Why didn't you?" asked Jane, trying to hide her joy and cowering up in one of the armchairs.  
"Wha- because- parents! I don't do parents-" he shook his head "Bad enough I'm me, and parents really don't like me- but I just... I just don't feel like that about Angi. I don't know, it's messed up for me to say, but I'd rather not meet her parents, that's like a big commitment."  
"Coward." said George.  
"So did she go home for the holidays?"  
"Yeah..." muttered Fred "Shortly after releasing some Stink Petals in our dorm."  
"The poor girl was crying and all." said Lee "I'd feel sorry for her, if I didn't have to sleep here tonight."  
"I feel sorry for her." said George with a judgemental side-eye at his brother "I have told you so many times to just stop with Angi, and you two just keep on hurting each other- it's so stupid."  
"I just don't like complicated... and it's always complicated with her." said Fred quietly.  
"Oh bollocks." said Jane "You are literally incapable of ever compromising. Girls aren't dogs you can train to do exactly what you want. Angelina is a real person with real feelings, of course she's going to be upset with you if you keep messing up- that's not complicated."  
"You don't even like her-"  
"So what? She's a girl, I'm a girl, we're all sick and tired of men dreaming up some perfect, uncomplicated thing they can own. If you don't want a real person, get a doll."  
"I don't want to own her- I'm not talking about normal small arguments- she just keeps picking fights because of everything. For example, I can't even talk to you without her being pissed off for days."  
"Well, have you given her reason to mistrust you?"  
"No-"  
"Well-" said George "I see how she might be a little... threatened-" he looked at Jane "I mean, she probably noticed you're not her biggest fan, Lupin. And when you two spend a lot of time together, and Fred blows her off to hang out with you... she might get ideas-"  
"Wha-" Jane felt herself turn terribly red "He never- I mean I don- she- I-"  
"Is that what a stroke looks like?" asked Lee before standing up "Anyways, I'm going to crash in one of the empty dorms, this has become very awkward... George, you coming?"  
"Definitely." said George, before following Lee upstairs, leaving Fred and Jane alone in the common room, one redder than the other.  
"I didn't blow her off for you."  
"Yeah I know." said Jane swiftly "George got that totally wrong."  
"Yeah, totally." said Fred, nervously drumming his fingers on his knee "I mean- we were already hanging out, or y'know, had plans-"  
"Yeah, yeah."  
"Would've been rude to cancel, right?"  
"I mean, not that I'd care, obviously."  
"Obviously."  
"Yeah-" she clicked her tongue and smiled awkwardly.  
"So- why don't you like her?"  
"Huh?"  
"You don't like Angi... why?"  
"Oh y'know..." even she didn't know. They never liked each other, long before Fred even became relevant. Jane once accidentally set Angelina on fire and in return, Angelina locked her in a closet for an entire weekend... maybe that had something to do with it. "We just don't get along. Never did."  
"Yeah-" said Fred "Sleep- you should probably go to sleep, right?"  
"Oh yeah, definitely. Night."  
"Night."  
As soon as she lay down in her bed she hid her face under her blanket and shuddered with embarrassment.


	12. R A V E N C L A W

Until the beginning of the term, the only people Jane dared to be around were Hermione and Ron, but definitely not at the same time, her father, Lee and George. She worked wonders at avoiding Harry and Fred, and instead hung around the library and sometimes she'd just stare out of windows, hoping to see a black dog run down to the Whomping Willow. Remus was surprised, to say the least, at the sudden recovery of Jane's wand, and Jane once had to get him away from Hagrid, when he was about to bring up, how he found Jane tied up outside of his hut.  
By the time of their first Patronus lesson, the tension between Harry and Jane could've been cut with a knife. Conjuring a Patronus wasn't hard for Jane. Her wand's dragon heart-string core was once again coming in very handy, and she'd been picking out her favourite memories to use for the charm for days. There was that time her father took her to the Leaky Cauldron during Quidditch season to watch the Magpies game; she'd always remember that overwhelming feeling when the entire crowd started cheering at the Magpie's win with her in the middle, chanting just as loudly.  
Then there was the beginning of the year, when her and Harry flew Buckbeak and she was completely drugged up on Euphoria. That memory had a bittersweet feeling to it, after everything going on with the Malfoys, but it still worked perfectly. She also imagined sitting in the ministry, Sirius Black next to her and Ron's rat being revealed to be Peter Pettigrew. Remus would fall in Sirius' arms and they'd become the happy family they were meant to be. Harry would forgive Jane for lying to him and they'd all move into a bigger house together, with Harry far away from the Dursleys and Sirius would teach them how to drive that car, Jane currently held the keys to. She found that thought to work the best for the Patronus, even though it was hardly anything but very wishful thinking.  
Maybe she could even add the proud face of her father onto the list, when she conjured a Patronus with her very first try. It wasn't corporal, as he called it, it wasn't even strong enough to properly keep the Boggart at bay, but it still got her very excited. Harry himself only took three tries himself, until he could produce a Patronus, and Remus was very satisfied with him as well.  
"You know there's differences between you and him, right?" he asked, once Harry left the room.  
"Of course." said Jane "He did great."  
"You won't gloat?"  
"Are you insane? I know why I did better than him, this time. I wouldn't stand a chance against real Dementors. They just affect him more than me, but the real ones are fully trying to kill me."  
"I'm glad you understand that." he nodded "But I'm still very proud. A third year producing a Patronus at the very first try, it's astounding."  
"Was Sirius Black a powerful wizard?" she asked curiously, wondering whether or not her genetics theory still held ground.  
"He was brilliant... also had a dragon heart-string core- yes he is very powerful. But you can give yourself some credit Jane. Magical abilities can't be inherited."  
"Wait, really?"  
"Lily was powerful as well, and she was muggleborn. So was your mother. Then there's Filch, he's got magical parents-"  
"But he's a squib." sighed Jane. So much for genetics.   
He looked a little concerned "Are you and Harry okay?"  
"How could we be?" sighed Jane "He's the only one who knows... about the whole Black thing. He doesn't trust me very much at the moment."  
"Jane... maybe it wasn't smart to tell him."  
"I don't care. He's Harry." she felt bad enough for betraying him, she didn't want to keep something that big from him, even if it put their friendship on hold "We'll get through this... I hope."  
"If it's important for both of you, you will." he agreed "And now do me a favour and go actually write the essay I've assigned you, instead of handing in another ripped page from a book. Are you trying to get me to fail you?"  
"It was an accurate page though, wasn't it? I'd call it adaptive working."  
"I call it lazy. Go, do your homework."  
The truth was, even though she was living through the weirdest chapter of her life, Jane was bored through mostly all of it. Without the map, without the twins, there wasn't much to do except going to the library, and if it weren't for Hermione, Jane probably wouldn't ever have stepped as much as one foot into it. It wasn't like she hated books, she just didn't have the attention span for them and usually relied on movies with explosions and loud screams and impressive monsters to keep her focussed for more than a minute. She also could've sworn that Scabbers the rat was actively avoiding her, which was rather suspicious for a rat. But if she wanted to believe that the actual Sirius Black was innocent, she needed more than a rat in hiding.  
It was Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnson, who kept Jane's life interesting. Angelina didn't get a new broom over the holidays, and it didn't look like she was going to get one any time soon, which meant that for this term at least, Jane would be a permanent Chaser. And Oliver demanded complete devotion to get her from over-all stand in to A-level Chaser until their next match against Ravenclaw. Five days a week, she got Mondays and Thursdays off, he'd have her speed through the stadium and throw Quaffle after Quaffle after Quaffle, until her arms were so sore, she couldn't even lift her quill to take notes during class. She wasn't going to complain though, it kept her busy.  
"Man, look at those guns-" laughed George one evening in the common room, pinching Jane's upper arm "Wood, are you training the new Chaser or some secret army?"  
"Oh please." scoffed Oliver "She's still soft, the match stands right before us and look at her, weak, only scoring nine out of ten."  
"I am going up against the strongest, best, most amazing Keep after all." said Jane.  
"Flattery won't work, Jane. When you're out there, it's not just about scoring. There's Bludgers, Beaters, the other Chasers-"  
"Wood, I know. I won't disappoint you, promise."  
"Yeah," said Alicia "we're all working really hard. We're going to win the cup this year."  
"Especially now that Harry's got the Firebolt back." said George.  
"We'll meet tomorrow at seven o'clock sharp." said Wood firmly "Don't make any other plans, Ravenclaw's Seeker, well she's really brilliant from what I've seen, so if we want to win the game with Harry stalling long enough, you all have to do your best-"  
"I think he's trying to kill us." said Fred after the meeting "Seven and don't make plans, he's going to drill us all day."  
"Honestly Lupin-" said George "How are you still going? He's never been that hard on any of us."  
"I don't mind it, really." said Jane "I mean if it means we have a better chance at winning I'll endure-"  
A loud scream from the boy's dormitories interrupted her and the entire room fell silent, looking at the staircase, until Ron walked into sight, carrying a bedsheet "LOOK!" he yelled, walking over to were Hermione and Harry had been talking "LOOK!"  
"Ron, what-?" asked Hermione.  
"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"  
"No-" muttered Jane, walking over to him.  
"BLOOD! HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"  
"N-no." said Hermione.  
"No, no, no-" Jane didn't care what Ron had found, it couldn't be. No animagus would allow a cat to eat it. Peter Pettigrew would've rather turned back in human form than be eaten by Crookshanks. Sirius Black had lied to her. Her father was a murderer, a traitor, responsible for James and Lily's deaths. He'd killed Pettigrew and tried to turn the blame on him. And she'd protected him- she betrayed Harry for him, she was no better than Black. How could she be, she was one herself.   
"What do you care, Lupin? You always hated him." said Ron angrily. He probably wasn't really angry at Jane, and rather just angry in general, but Jane had her own issues and was in no way in the mood to be attacked by him.  
"Your stupid rat was my only hope Weasel, but guess what, I'm bloody delighted that parasite won't go around biting me anymore." she turned to Hermione and yelled "Tell Crookshanks he's a good boy." before storming off to their dorm.  
Her entire face was twitching, like always when she was really angry. "I'll finish him off myself that lying scum- he'll see." she said to herself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid- fell for it, for it all, you bloody moron!"  
"Jane?" Harry carefully entered the room and watched her search through her trunk "Why are you so bothered by it?"  
"Because-" no, she couldn't say why, he'd hate her. He'd never forgive her for protecting Black, not on such pathetic grounds, she thought a rat had committed his crimes, she was an idiot "Because- I never got to make peace with him." she muttered.  
"What?"  
"He died knowing I disliked him." she finally found the note Sirius Black had sent her and ripped it to shreds before setting fire to it and watching it burn.  
"You're kidding, right?" his tone was sharp "Ron just lost his pet and you were mean to him because of something that stupid?"  
"Yes, haven't you heard Harry? I am stupid, I can do stupid things."  
"Oh of course you'd come at me with the same cheap excuse you always use. The world hates me, I am the victim, everybody thinks I'm stupid so I'm just gonna act on it-"  
"Oh, I'm Harry Potter, my scar hurts, I get to be mad and moody all the time and everybody has to just deal with it because I'm the boy who lived, but if any of my friends ever feel off, I'll just be a bitch about it!"   
"Just leave Jane alone!" said Hermione, storming down into the dorm, also with tears in her eyes "Always siding with Ron, are you?"  
"YOU'VE ALL GONE MAD!" bellowed Harry before storming out of the room.  
They didn't talk to each other at all the following days. Jane and Hermione didn't as much as look at Ron and Harry, and vice versa. "Look at him brag with his stupid Firebolt." muttered Jane to George when Madam Hooch wouldn't shut up about how it was better than any of their brooms "Only reason he even has it is because Black tried to kill him with it. Not much to be proud of."  
"I thought it was completely jinx-free?" said George, who probably couldn't have cared less about what Jane was talking about. "Why are you two fighting again? Because of the rat?"  
"Of course you don't get it." said Jane "It's so much more than just the rat, it's about principle."  
"And what principle exactly is this about?"  
"Well- oh shut up."  
"Gladly."  
Jane watched with a mix of displeasure and admiration how fast the Firebolt went, how quickly Harry caught the snitch each time, and knew how easy the game would be for them, if only it weren't for the fact that they needed to make enough points before Harry could even go for the Snitch. The final practice took seemingly forever, but it was undoubtedly the best the team had ever been, and the hope restored itself in Oliver's eyes.  
The next day, Jane couldn't hide her excitement about her first real match. She'd been nervous last time, but not really expecting to play at all. This time she was prepared and looking forward to kicking all of the Ravenclaws into the dust. "Harry-" she took him aside in the locker-room "Good luck and show Cho what you're made of." she held her hand out and for a second Harry hesitated before giving her a firm handshake.  
"You too." he said with a smile. "Friends?"  
"Till the end of the line."  
"Hey Jane." said Olive quietly "Make me proud, yeah? I believe in you."  
She nodded and tightened the last strap of her uniform before they all took their brooms and went out onto the pitch were they were greeted with roaring cheers from all the stances. She went right with them, in one line, to face the Ravenclaw players. As the captains shook hands, Jane couldn't help but notice how pretty Cho was, and apparently, neither could Harry. He didn't really seem to notice, but his cheeks were flushed as she smiled at him.  
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and all players kicked off the ground at once. Katie caught the Quaffle at once and headed for the goal and Alicia signed Jane to hold out right before the scoring area. Katie's attempt was blocked and the Quaffle went out to the Ravenclaws, Alicia blocked a pass, caught the ball, passed it to Jane and she drowned it in the hoop, resulting in loud cheers from the stance.  
"Alright!" yelled Fred before diving after the Bludger trying to hit Alicia off her broom.  
"I don't believe it-" panted Katie, coming to a stop next to Jane "We're leading hundred and twenty to zero- the cup is almost ours. Harry's going for it, but get four more, and we win either way."  
"On it." nodded Jane and shot down towards the Ravenclaw in hold of the Quaffle, letting herself fall head-over, she caught it right as it had left his hands. The only thing she hadn't taken in consideration was that she had no idea how to get back up again. Instead she blindly navigated herself towards the scoring are.  
"LUPIN!" Alicia appeared next to her and Jane passed her the Quaffle and tried to swing herself back up, but there was no use.   
"Bollocks-" she looked down to the ground, from where three Dementors were looking up at her. Within a second she had pointed her wand and screamed "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" and a bright silvery light burst from her wand as another burst of the same light streamed past her, followed by a bright silvery stag and a big dog shooting down towards the Dementors.  
"Need a hand?" Fred pulled Jane back up onto her broom, just before more loud cheering erupted from the stances.  
"POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS THREE HUNDRED TO ZERO, A WIN LIKE WE'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!" announced Lee.  
Jane was too perplexed to understand what exactly she'd just heard, or what just happened with the Dementors. She watched the team race down towards the ground, covering Harry with hugs and let herself fall as well. Three hundred- when on earth had they scored fifteen times? She tried to do the math in her head. She made a total of thirteen attempts, missed twice- she shook her head, she couldn't have possibly scored eleven times. She counted again, but the number stayed the same.  
"Bloody hell, Jane!" said Oliver, giving Jane a pat on the back, hard enough to stumble forwards "That Keeper didn't know what was hitting him, you've got a deadly aim, I've never seen before-"  
"Huh?" she was still just as confused "Dementors?"  
"Yeah-" said Harry looking just as clueless as Jane "Dementors?"  
"Those weren't Dementors." Remus appeared next to Harry and waved him and Jane along "But very impressive Potroni- corporal and all, I couldn't be prouder of the two of you." he pointed at four people, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Marcus Flint, lying on the ground and struggling to remove their black robes "You gave Mr Malfoy quite a fright."  
"Oh, I'm going to give him more than a fright-" said Jane, ready punch Malfoy right where she stood, but her father held her back until her feet were helplessly kicking in the air.  
"Jane, no."  
"I'm going to beat the shi-"  
"Jane, no." said Remus again, as though talking to a dog. "Look," he whispered and pointed at McGonagall yelling at the Slytherins "never get into a fight in front of a teacher. Especially not McGonagall."  
"Harry, Jane!" said George from between the crowd "Come on! Party! Gryffindor common room, now!"  
"You can go in a minute." said Remus to Jane "Come along for a second." he led her off the pitch "That game was magnificent! Hundred and ten points, I've never seen something like this, you just don't miss-"  
"I don't know." said Jane quietly "I mean, doesn't that make me sort of a selfish player?"  
"Of course not- you and the tow other Chasers played great together, used each other's strengths, and they knew just like all of us watching that your strength clearly is your aim. Trust me, I was watching and it was fantastic teamwork. But you can give yourself some credit for the outcome today. Three-hundred points in such a short game, James would be so impressed."  
Jane flinched a little. That was definitely nothing she deserved. After all she was betraying James and Harry right as they spoke, and all that because she was too cowardly to admit she'd been protecting Black. Where was that Gryffindor courage now.  
"Now, go on with the others and celebrate, I just had to tell you how proud I am." he said smiling widely and giving her a pat on the shoulder. She trotted back to the castle and to the common room, not feeling like celebrating at all.  
"There she is!" squealed Alicia and her and Katie almost jumped around Jane's neck to give her a suffocating hug.  
"Man Lupin," said Seamus "you were like Hawkeye out there, just tschack, tschack, tschack-" he imitated shooting an arrow "the Keep was non the wiser."  
Dean next to him nodded vigorously "What a game, we couldn't even-"  
"Thanks, guys." interrupted Jane "Hope you don't mind, but I'm actually really tired. I'm just gonna take a nap-"  
"Boo!" said Seamus "No way, you can sleep when you're dead."  
"Shouldn't be too long with the Grim on you ass like that." agreed Dean.  
"Alright everybody!" said Oliver loudly "What a game! Am I right?" the entire room cheered loudly. "Now, I know it's not over, we still have to beat Slytherin this year, but with what we've seen today, I mean bloody hell, if we use our strengths like this again, SLYTHERIN IS GOING DOWN!" more cheering and chanting filled the room.   
Jane went to sit down next to Hermione, who was sitting apart from everyone else, with her nose in a book. "Hell of a game." said Hermione without looking up.  
"Yeah." said Jane.  
"Can I ask you something?"  
"Sure."  
Hermione leaned in a little and said very quietly "You father- he's not really anaemic, is he?"  
"What makes you think so?"  
"I've never heard of anaemia that only affects someone during a full moon."  
"Oh that- I mean, who- you know, he gets sick all the time, really. It's just that the full moon- well he can never sleep during it- it's just too bright for him, y'know? So he's really tired and- and because of the iron thing he- well, he's even more tired because of that and then he gets y'know really dizzy and-"  
"Jane- I won't tell anyone, don't worry, but he's a werewolf, isn't he."  
Jane laughed nervously and said very shrilly "A werewolf? No, that-" she let out a very forced laugh "That is just ridiculous. Werewolf, good one Mione."  
"Oh, don't worry, he's a brilliant teacher, it's not like I'm planning to expose him. I was just wondering, if you would maybe give me some more insight on lycanthropy, from what I understand it's no-"  
"Mione, if my father were a werewolf, that would be news to me, but I've only known him for thirteen years, so maybe I just didn't notice it yet. Let it go, coincidences happen." finally having had enough, she went down to her dorm and took out parchment and quill. Really all she had to do, was to write a note, an anonymous note to Dumbledore, telling him the precise location of Sirius Black. The Dementors would find him in no time, suck out his soul and leave his dead, but breathing body behind. A soulless existence, not alive but not dead either- she could've screamed at the top of her lungs. Nothing about him made sense. Sending Harry a Firebolt out of what- the goodness of his heart? No jinxes on it, how did that make sense if he wanted him dead?   
Scabbers just died? In Ron's bed, after Jane had checked if he was there earlier, when he wasn't? Why was she still holding on to his lies, she was livid, she wanted to kill Black with her bare hands, and yet, she couldn't go through with giving him up. Maybe Pettigrew was- no. She just had to come to terms with the fact that she was no better than her blood-thirsting father. She was a Black after all, wasn't she. Pure-blood supremacists, murderers, death-eaters, that was her blood. Filth. Criminal filth. She had to accept she was no better than the lot of them. A coward, a traitor, everything she despised. And for what? Her father, who'd lied to her. Who'd tied her up and left her in the Shrieking Shack. Her quill snapped in half, and ink sputtered all over the parchment.  
She shook her head at the audacity she had, to call Harry her best friend, to shake his hand, when he'd eventually die because of her. She took another piece of parchment, a smaller one, and one of her pencils and crafted a note for Sirius.  
You have to go. I don't care what you do, but you have to leave.  
You've compromised me, I am betraying my best friend, just like you did before me,  
but I don't want him to die by your hands because of me.  
Leave, never come back, never even think about laying a single hand on Harry.  
If you aren't gone by the end of this week, I'll tell Dumbledore were you're hiding,  
I'll tell him you're an animagus, I'll tell him what animal you can turn into,  
and I'll watch gladly, when you receive the Dementor's kiss.  
You will rot in limbo forever for your crimes, and I hope you die, knowing  
that I never forgave you, for what you've done, and for pulling me into it,  
ruining my soul for eternity.  
A tear fell onto the parchment and Jane crumbled it up and burned it.  
"Hello there, arsonist." said Fred, entering the room "I can't help but wonder why there's a party upstairs, celebrating you and Harry, and you're down here, crying and burning stuff."  
"Well," sniffed Jane "I am burning yet another detention note, and I am crying, because the smoke burns in my eyes."  
"Oh." said Fred "I mean, either way, you shouldn't be down here right now, not when you could be living your best, smoke-free life, just upstairs." he held his hand out "Leave it behind for just one day and enjoy what's awaiting."  
"Man-" said Jane, letting him drag her back into the common room "You sure get philosophical over a piece of burnt paper."  
"What can I say," he smirked back at her "I'm just sensitive and emotionally intelligent like that."  
Jane decided to just follow his advice and forget about Black and everything she was doing for a moment. Whenever the thought, that that in itself was just as disgusting, crept up, she'd just have let some more Butterbeer warm her up on the inside, while listening to Lee's lively retelling of the match and laughing at the jokes about the Ravenclaws. It felt like one of the best days in a long time. And every time someone mentioned Cho Chang, Jane would look over to Harry, who'd blush at the mention of her name and look at his hands for a second. When McGonagall finally broke the party up at about one in the morning, Jane went to bed without a worry in the world.  
But of course that wasn't going to last.


	13. A C H I L L E S'   H E E L

"Now don't you worry Neville." said Jane, trying to console him "I write the passwords down all the time, sometimes they're hard to remember."  
"Maybe," he sniffed "but at least Ron wasn't almost stabbed by Sirius Black because of you."  
Jane sighed, wishing this was even remotely true. "Don't be ridiculous Nev. He would've found a way, no matter what. You're forgetting he's the same guy who escaped Azkaban and keeps successfully hiding from Dementors- right under our noses." she wondered if this could be her villain origin story. Lying to her fiends so effortlessly, betraying them with every step she made to protect a man she hated, because of blood and guilt. "Try getting some sleep, it'll all look better in the morning."  
Of course nothing looked better in the morning. Nothing looked better by the next evening either. And it wasn't just because of the heightened security all over the castle, making the danger they were in more imminent, it was the overall mood of the students and teachers alike as well. It was a gloomy day, and Jane was almost relieved to fit right in. Nobody was wondering why the usually upbeat, always joking girl was dragging herself from one class to the other, without making a single thing blow up, without making at least one stupid joke or without at least one tiny comment about the grease on Snape's head.  
"Why do you think he went after Ron?" asked Harry quietly. They were sitting on Jane's bed, reading the first issue of the new Batman and Superman series, Seamus had borrowed them, and whispering about Black. "He wants me dead, and yet he went for Ron, it's all rather strange, isn't it?"  
"Dunno, maybe-"  
"And why didn't he just kill him when he screamed? Could've offed the rest of us as well, Seamus, Dean, Neville and me, then-"  
"Maybe he just confused the two of you. Wanted to get out as soon as Ron yelled, I doubt he'd like to go back to Azkaban, and if the teachers would've caught him- well he would've been done for." no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help but wonder if Black hadn't lied about Pettigrew, r if maybe, in his own deranged mind, he believed it to be true. Maybe he was looking for Ron's rat, not knowing it was dead already.  
"People keep telling me I look like my father and you think he confused us?"  
"I don't know- it was dark, wasn't it?"  
"Bright enough for Ron to recognize him in a second. Something about it just seems weird, he had his chance to off me right then, and he didn't use it. All a bit odd- wonder if he wants something else first."  
"Like what?"  
"Dunno... do you think he cares about you?"  
"My father said he does- well, or did. Who knows how much he changed."  
"Weird to imagine Black with a child."  
"Yeah, I prefer to not think about that. Oh no-"  
"What?"  
"Superman's going mad again. This is like the hundredth time. You'd think some invincible alien force like him would be able to suffer through a bit more than some rich guy in a tech suit."  
"Dunno, he's got normal feelings and all that. It's not like Tullus or Blaze are some weak tossers like the Joker. And Silver Banshee has been kicking Superman's ass for a while now."  
"Fact is, him and Batman shouldn't be a match for each other. Wayne should be dead by now."  
"I'm sorry, but in the end Batman could finish Superman with ease."  
"Rubbish- again, Superman, invincible, alien, Batman's just rich-"  
"Yeah, Iron Man could finish Superman as well-"  
"Could not."  
"Of course he could. The second Stark as much as gets the faintest idea, Superman might be coming for him, he'd get himself some Kryptonite and have Superman a head shorter, while he's still punching through his magnetic field or whatever. Face it, the man of steel in his rubber suit is nothing against the big leagues."  
"He is the big league."  
"Bet I could finish him with a flick of my wand."  
"Yeah? What spell exactly would you go for? Your beloved tickling charm?"  
"Whatever curse killed my parents should do, right? Or send a Dementor after him, soul sucking seems to work on him. Bet Sirius Black wouldn't see a challenge in him either."  
"He'd burn us to little piles of ash with his laser eyes, while we're still looking for our wands. Even the boy who lived won't survive being roasted like a marshmallow."  
"Shielding spell. One protego and-"  
"That's for offensive spells, you doltish twit."  
"Alright, still shows you haven't payed attention in history of magic a single day in your life. Flame-Freezing-Charm. Sucker."  
"Again, you couldn't even reach your wand. You go reaching for it, he already burns you to a crisp, or zooms at you with his superspeed and punches you all the way to the moon. Be smart Potter, no technology, no magic can reach up to Superman's potential."  
"You say."  
"Logic says."  
"If I had my broom, drank Fire Protection potion beforehand and already had my wand-"  
"Now you're reaching."  
"Why? If Iron Man gets time to prepare, so do I. Hypothetically, I could kick Superman's ass. It's fine that you couldn't because you skip enough class for the entire school, but I could end him in no time."  
"In case you didn't notice, I didn't skip class once this year."  
"Yeah, because Professor Lupin would ground you if he found out."  
"True that, true that..."   
Jane spent almost every second of the following weeks with Neville, even bailing on the Hogsmeade trip to hang out with him. McGonagall and his grandmother were both furious with him, and he was basically being treated like dirt, which felt wrong, considering how genuinely sweet he was.  
"Do you think I'll ever be told the password again?" he asked during a game of Exploding Snap while the rest of their year was at the village.  
"Sure, it's all temporary. It'll have to go back to normal eventually."  
"Can't believe he hasn't been caught by now."  
"Mhm- say, Neville, have you ever heard of the term Achilles' heel?"  
"Don't think so."  
"In Greek mythology, there was a hero, Achilles. When he was little, his mother held him head over into the river Styx, making him indestructible, all arrows and blades would just bounc off his skin. The only problem was, she held him by his ankle, so down by his heel, was a small soft spot, and after someone shot an arrow right into that small spot, the protection of the river left him and he could be killed. Achilles' heel- it's basically a term for once most fatal flaw. What would you say, your most fatal flaw is?"  
"Dunno-" he looked very depressed "Suppose I'm dangerously stupid. What do you think yours is?"  
"Honestly, I think it might be guilt. Guilt controls all of my decisions, all my actions- I am capable of doing terrible things when guided by guilt. I don't think it knows any limit."  
"Terrible things like what?"  
"Dunno, everything. Betray my friends, lie, put people in danger. All because I don't want to hurt someone. Because I'd feel never-ending guilt about it. I once said something really terrible to my father when I was younger, and now- I don't think I could ever do that again... but at the same time I'm willing to feel guilty about what I'm doing to others for it."  
"What made you think about that right now?"  
"I've been doing something bad to protect my father. There's a big secret I should tell someone, to keep everyone safe, but I can't do that to him."  
"Well, doesn't that make your heel loyalty?"  
"I'm not loyal to him. I'm loyal to someone else- I was loyal to someone else. I don't know... Achilles' heel was only a risk to him, it was his fatal flaw- but mine- it's fatal to everybody else. Don't know if it even counts then."  
"Well, mine is a risk to everybody else as well."  
"I don't think your fatal flaw is stupidity. I don't even think you're stupid at all."  
"Ron almost died because I was too thick to remember a password."  
"I think you're avoiding your true potential because you're scared of attention."  
"Rubbish. I get loads of attention for being a moron. That's not a choice I'd make."  
"I think you'll prove yourself eventually, y'know."  
"What about you? I don't know what danger you're talking about but will you eventually make the right decision?"  
"I don't know. I mean I hope so- actually- no. I hope I've been making the right decision all along and it just feel wrong in the moment."  
"How would that work?"  
"Are you familiar with Schrödinger's Cat?"   
"Another analogy?"  
"It was a thought experiment. A cat in a steel chamber, is either dead or alive, depending completely on whether or not the tiny bit of radioactive substance of the Geiger counter in the chamber either decays within an hour or-"   
"Jane, I am a pure blood- if this has anything to do with muggle technology, I am absolutely not following."  
"Cat in box, with something that has the same probability of killing it as it has of not killing it. You won't know if the cat is alive or dead until you look into the box."  
"Got it."  
"So, someone told me something. I'd say it has the same probability of being true, as it has of being a lie- if it's true, I've been doing the right thing all along, but if it's false, I have blood on my hands. The problem is, I won't know if I've made a mistake until I find out if it was the truth or a lie, and I won't know that, until something happens, either fatal or confirming."  
"Well, which risk is higher?"  
"I'd say their equal. If it's the truth but I do the now seeming to be the right thing, someone innocent, someone very important to me is going to die. But if it's a lie and I keep doing the wrong thing, someone equally innocent, and very important is going to die. But you see, if it's the truth and I keep doing the wrong thing, both live."  
"And if it's a lie and you do the right thing-"  
"Then someone bad would die and someone innocent would survive."  
"Who means more to you?"  
"One is blood, the other one is family."  
"You can't tell me what this is about, can you?"  
"No. I can't tell anyone, because they'd all do the right thing- and the right thing-"  
"Could result in the death of someone innocent."  
"Exactly."  
"That's fatal alright."  
"Ah, of course." said Snape, marching into the common room, closely followed by Harry, sweaty and his hands muddy "Of course Lupin would serve as your only witness. Mind telling me where Mr Potter has been today, Lupin?"  
"He was with us most of the time, some time in his dorm- Harry you said you'd go catch some air maybe- what was it Nev- five- ten minutes ago? Why are you muddy?"  
"Slipped and fell- the courtyards a bit wet today." said Harry, with a thankful smile.  
"Ah of course." Snape's lip curled into a bitter grin "Mr Longbottom, can you confirm?"  
"Er- yes." said Neville, in which was the most obvious lie in the history of lies."  
"Right then." snarled Snape "Lupin, Longbottom, detention for lying, Mr Potter, follow me."  
Harry let his head hang and followed Snape back out of the portrait hole, meanwhile Neville hid his face behind his hands "See? Fatal flaw- I'm an idiot."  
"Snape's just a bitter old prick."  
"Where was Harry anyways?"  
"Somewhere he shouldn't have been." said Jane.   
Moments later the portrait hole swung open again, this time it was Remus, followed by Harry, and a very red Ron "Jane, out, now." said Remus.  
"Oh bloody hell." muttered Jane. When he took this tone, she knew she was done for. She followed them out into the hallway.  
"Guess what Mr Potter was just found with?"   
"Er-" Jane's eyes nervously darted over to Harry who mouthed 'Map'. "A... map?"  
"Yes a map! Care to tell me what kind of map or would you like me to tell you?" Jane remained quiet, hoping he had no idea, but it was about to rain hellfire "Have you thought, for even a second, what this map would be worth in Sirius' hands?"  
"Why do you think I know anything about-"  
"Professor Moony!" he shook his head "Do you take me for an idiot? Old map from a book- I knew you were lying, but i did not expect you to be this stupid- all of you." he turned to scold Harry and Ron as well. The two of them seemed scared for their lives, of course they'd never seen him angry like this before. "You decided to pass it on to Harry, even though you know Black is after him, you know what it does, you know how easy it would be for Black to track you down if he found the map!"  
"It's sealed-" said Harry, very quietly but the penny fell for Jane. Oh, she had been an oblivious little fool. It all made sense though, didn't it. Moony, her werewolf father, Padfoot, her dog father, Wormtail, also known as Peter Pettigrew, the rat, and prongs- Harry's Patronus was a stag, and Jane was willing to bet good money, that just like her Patronus, resembling her father's animagus form, so did Harry's. Prongs, her stag godfather.  
"Not for Sirius Black." she sighed "He'd know how to operate it."  
"How?"  
"He made it, didn't he." she shook her head "Dad, I didn't even think about that- I'm sorry."  
"You better be."   
"Wait, you mean Sirius Black made the Marauders Map?" asked Ron "That means he knows all the passageways- every secret entrance, every hidden path- bloody hell, he could be anywhere."  
Remus exhaled sharply "Precisely. You two can go back to your common room now, the map stays with me, understood? Jane, you come with me." they went down to the second floor to his office "Care to explain how you got your hands on this thing?"  
Well, she wasn't going to rat out Fred and George as well, but their story was the only one that came to mind "First year I dropped a Dungbomb in one of the hallways. Filch of course wasn't thrilled and took me along to his office, where I saw this drawer Confiscated and Highly Dangerous. I just couldn't resist- dropped another Dungbomb and grabbed the first thing from that drawer."  
"You were so sweet before you went away for your first year." he shook his head "So well-behaved, a real angel. And then you went away and started blowing stuff up-" he seemed to focus all his energy on hiding a smile "How did you figure out Sirius made this map?"  
"Not just Sirius. I know you're just as responsible, Moony. You and your pals James Prongs Potter and Peter Wormtail Pettigrew. I'm not an idiot either. The second you revealed you knew what it does, it wasn't hard to piece it together." she wished she was even half as bright as she claimed "So you weren't a saint at all during your time at Hogwarts. Creating the Marauders Map," she shook her head "and I thought you were so sweet, so well-behaved, a real angel."  
"Alright, funny Jane. If Black would've found the map the night he broke into Harry's dorm-"  
"You think it's odd too that he'd attack Ron when he had the opportunity to kill Harry, don't you?"  
"Doesn't matter what I think. You're all lucky you're still alive."  
"Right." she wasn't too sure about that. Pettigrew was Wormtail, he had to be. What animal had a tail that looked like a worm? Rats. So Pettigrew's animagus was a rat- rats surely could escape from any sort of crime scene without anyone noticing. She's laugh too, if she found her best friend killing twelve muggles, then watched him turn into a rat and disappear to have her deal with it all. Not because it was funny, but what else should she do? Sirius and her were the same, and laughing seemed like the only response to a situation like that.  
"Alright, go back to the common room now, and for the love of god, I am begging you, I really am, finally do your bloody homework. The term is almost over and somehow, your essays keep getting worse and worse-"  
"Won't do." said Jane with a nod and left before she'd have to endure another lecture. "What on earth is going on here?" Harry, Ron and a crying Hermione were standing in front of the common room, looking like they'd been struck by lighting, looking at a note Hermione was holding.  
"Buckbeak's been sentenced to death." said Ron quietly.  
"Can't be-" said Jane, taking the note from them "That- that slimey git Malfoy- that's it, I'll beat him till- till he won't be able to tell his ugly face from his ugly ass!"  
"There has to be something we can do." said Harry "I mean, Dumbledore won't allow that to happen, would he?"  
"I don't think it's for Dumbledore to decide." said Ron darkly. "We can't even go check on Hagrid... with all the nasty trolls around..."  
They had to wait until their next Care of Magical Creatures lesson, which left Jane both, a little disappointed and very impressed. While they'd been talking, Malfoy and his braindead followers had been snickering behind them. Jane was very impressed because all of the sudden, Hermione leapt at Malfoy and struck him across his face. She was a little disappointed because she meant to do that.  
"Man, you missed something." said Harry after yet another Divination class "Hermione went mental, stormed out of the classroom-"  
"She did?" yawned Jane, it had been a long nap, she second she sat down in one of the comfortable armchairs, her head hit the table "Hermione's becoming a bit of a badass, isn't she?"  
"Clearly." said Ron "I think she's about to reach her breaking point."  
"Oh," said Harry "Trelawney's not too impressed with you sleeping through all her lessons either, Jane."  
"Next time, tell her not to worry. I am simply summoning all my visions through my dreams. It's when my inner eye is at its strongest."


	14. W O O D' S   F I N A L   G A M E

Jane had been under the false impression her training for the Ravenclaw match had been rough. Over the Easter holidays she could've begged to get the old training regiment back. No class meant that Oliver would wake her up every day, at seven in the morning, long before the rest of the team, and have her throw hoops until it was time to go back to bed. He also had her learn all the difficult moves from Quidditch Through the Ages, after her failed attempt at a Sloth Grip Roll during the last game.   
Together with Alicia and Katie she had to repeat the Porskoff Ploy, Parkin's Pincer and the Reverse Pass until they could play those formations in their sleep. With her, what was now widely known as the 'deadly aim', Oliver made it her responsibility to score as many points as possible, unless of course one of the other girls happened to hold the Quaffle in the scoring area. All the practice was rather unfortunate, because Jane usually used her holidays to do her homework perfectly, to get her average up for the end of the year, but this time, there was barely enough time to sleep.  
"You know, Oliver-" she had to lift her arm up with the other "muscles need time to repair themselves, or-"  
"You'll have time to repair yourself when we hold the Quidditch Cup in our hands." said Oliver "This isn't weight-lifting, I just need you to throw a ball. Can you do that? Can you throw a ball, Lupin?" he always became a little scary before a match. His eyes would almost pop out of their sockets, his pupils were dilated all of the time, the veins in his forehead and neck would be throbbing- it was not a good look on him.  
"Yes, Wood, I can throw a ball. Not if my arms fall off though. Just give me one day. You're harder on me than anybody else-"  
"Because I am relying on you and Harry! I need Harry to catch the Snitch, and I need you to win us thirty points before he does, or we can forget the cup-"  
"Wood, thirty points, that is nothing."  
"You say now. Become to sure of yourself and lose."  
"He's right Lupin." said Fred of all people "Get back on your broom and stop whining, come on."  
"I swear to god Weasley." said Jane kicking off the ground "When the match is over and I can feel move my arms again-"  
"For all I care you can kill me after the match. There is no after the match. There's victory or shame."  
"You're all on Steroids, aren't you." she said, when he looked at her with the same insane look, Oliver was carrying at all times.  
"Don't know what the hell Steroids are." he said "Now, go and do what you were born for."  
Was she crazy or was there something wildly attractive about this side of him. Tense, focused, bossy- he gave her more butterflies than usual.  
"LUPIN FOCUS!" yelled Oliver when she let a Quaffle fly past her, and she quickly took her eyes off Fred and sped after it. That really was one step too far. She could crush on him all she wanted, but being distracted by him? Letting any boy distract her- that was really just pathetic. Blushing like an idiot, giggling about his jokes- they were trying to win the Quidditch cup and she was acing like one of those caricature versions of girls, she'd see in bad Muggle shows.  
Three days before the match, Oliver agreed to give them two day off. Even he understood, that they needed a little time to rest before the match. They wanted to spend a nice, calm day together in the common room, play some games, but as soon as they sat down in the armchairs and sofas, the entire team was asleep. The day before the match they trained for three more hours, and the fresh energy mirrored itself in the best session they'd ever had, followed by an appropriately excited pep-talk from Oliver in the common room.  
"Hey Wood, can I interrupt for a second?" said Jane, when he was already done "I think we can all agree that the game tomorrow is going to be dedicated to you."  
"Unless we lose." said Fred quickly.  
"Yes, unless we lose." said Jane before quickly adding "Which we obviously won't. Anyways, I haven't been here as long as the rest of them, which, by the way- thank you so much for giving me a chance, I know you really didn't want to in the beginning, and who could blame you- but what I'm trying to say is, you're by far the best Quidditch captain out there. And you deserve tomorrows win more than anyone has ever deserved anything."  
"To Oliver." said Alicia, raising her cup of pumpkin fizz.  
"To Oliver." said the entirety of Gryffindor house, raising their cups as well.  
Though he was thrilled about the genuine love the entire house was offering him, Oliver quickly abandoned them to crouch down in front of his model of the Quidditch pitch. "Lupin, a word." he said waving he over.  
"Yes sir?"  
"Sit." he said and she knelt down next to him. "Listen, Angelina is going to be Captain next year, that's what I know so far. I've spoken with her, she's going to keep you on the team as back up, until they graduate as well- then you should definitely go for a permanent Chaser position. I don't want to jinx it, but I have a good shot at a position on the Puddlemere United team and- I think you could make it as well. I didn't want you on the team because you're a slacker. You're like Fred and George, just worse. I honestly didn't think you had any sort of ambition in you but, after seeing you play-" he stared right into her eyes "you have loads of potential. Play your cards right, stay on the team, have a scout watch your game when you're in your seventh year and you can make it big. But only if you start taking it seriously. All of it. If they see that you can't be bothered to at least try, and always do the bare minimum and rather go around messing with Snape, you don't have a shot. I'm telling you, use that talent, make the best of it, and I'd be honoured to meet you at the world cup in a few years."  
"Thank you Oliver-" said Jane, thoroughly surprised "I- I'll do my best."  
"Do better than your best Jane. And now off to bed. Actually-" he looked towards the rest of the team and yelled "Team! Bed!"  
Jane woke up at about six o'clock, due to someone pinching her arm "Shh-" said Fred "Come on."  
"Weasley, the game isn't for-"  
"This isn't about the game. Just come on." he waited impatiently for Jane to find her boots and a jacket and had her follow him down to the Great Hall. "Couldn't sleep." he said.  
Jane raised her eyebrows "Well I could."  
"Yes, but I was bored."  
Her nose twitched slightly "And you decided to make that my problem because-"  
"Because I needed someone to talk to and Lee and George keep joking about it."  
She groaned and sat down on the bench, pouring some coffee into a mug "What's going on then?"  
"Broke up with Angi-"  
"Shocker."  
"No, no- I mean for real- forever. Weird to say... I mean technically we've been broken up since Christmas but we talked yesterday... and we sorta decided that it was over for good this time."  
"Oh, I'm sorry." lied Jane.  
"I'm not." said Fred "It's been exhausting for a while now. Like- like I know we made the right decision, and I'm sorta happy about it- because we just really weren't happy- at all. But it's just like this part of my life is gone now, y'know? I mean, I don't know if I ever loved her- that was sort of a big word neither of us felt like using- but I really, really liked her and sorta got used to knowing she was there..."  
"You can still be friends, can't you?"  
"Sure, that was part of our agreement."  
"You realize friends are also always there, right?" she took a long sip of her coffee "But I suppose I know what you mean. The idea of that chapter of your life, that you were so sure of, ending... it's weird when everything in life you took for granted just vanished right before your eyes."  
"Yeah... how how do people deal with it?"  
"You're asking the wrong person." laughed Jane "My life took the weirdest bloody turn a few months ago and I still don't know how to deal with any of it. It all takes time, sometimes just a day or two and sometimes it takes forever. All you can really do is move on from it."  
"Oh I already moved on alright. But waiting for that feeling to pass with time-" he sighed "how boring."  
"Life." said Jane "You'll get used to it." they stayed in the Great Hall, chatting about nothing and everything until the other students appeared one by one, and Jane realized, that not once in the three years they'd known each other, her and Fred had a conversation that lasted longer than ten minutes. George was always there, and if it wasn't George, it was Lee and then of course, sometimes, they were both there. In her first year, Fred and George had Jane follow them around like a dog, showing her every single hiding space, every corner, how to get to the kitchen without being caught, how to break into Dumbledore's office, or any other office for that matter. Then in second year, when they had nothing to teach her, and Jane became more of an equal, the three or four of them, would spend countless hours at the lake, in each others dorms or the common room, getting to know each other better, but being alone with Fred was new. In no way bad, just new, and he seemed to feel that as well. When George sat down next to him, Fred almost seemed a little disappointed. But they quickly went from talking about his constant worry of perception to discussing the match.  
After breakfast, Oliver rushed them onto the pitch. On their way of leaving the Great Hall, Cho Chang called "Good luck, Harry!" and Jane slightly nudged him in the ribs when she caught him blushing again.  
"You have a crush." she whispered and he turned even redder, without saying a single word.  
They watched Oliver pace the pitch, examining the conditions before heading to the changing room. Jane's hands were almost to shaky to tighten the straps of her uniform and had Harry pull them tightly around her arm, before slipping her gloves on and taking a few more deep breaths. "Don't worry." said Alicia "We know all the moves, we are basically the same person in three different places. And no pressure, Katie and I are going to put in the same amount of effort as you."  
Jane smiled rather fondly "I'm really going to miss playing with you guys when I'm back on the bench."  
"So will we." said Katie "That's why we have to make this last game count."  
If she hadn't been wearing her gloves, Jane would've probably chewed her fingernails clean off, in the time they spent waiting in the dressing room until Oliver finally said "OK, it's time, let's go..."  
With weak knees they marched out onto the pitch where they were greeted with a wave of loud cheers from the stances, many Gryffindors had their faces panted in red and gold, and they were carrying banners and flags, firing their players up.  
"And here are the Gryffindors!" yelled Lee "Potter, Bell, Spinnet, Lupin, Weasley, Weasley and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best side Hogwarts has seen in a few food year-" the Slytherin side booed them loudly. "And here come the Slytherin team, led by captain Flint. He's made some changes in the line-up and it seems to be going for size rather than skill-" Slytherin booed again.  
"Bloody hell, they're huge-" said Jane, inspecting the players.  
Alicia's eyes were wide with terror "If one of them bumps into us, we'll fall of our brooms-"  
Jane felt a weird sensation in her hand, Fred had taken it and squeezed it lightly "You've got this Lupin. No worries."  
She smiled back, hoping her face wasn't as burning red as it felt and focused back on the players, now standing in front of them. "Captains, shake hands!" said Madam Hooch, and Flint and Oliver gripped each others hands tightly enough to break each others fingers. "Mount your brooms! Three... two... one..." she blew her whistle, the crowd erupted in cheers and Jane shot towards the sky. She came to a halt, face to face with Adrian Pucey, caught the Quaffle before he could as much as raise his finger and passed it over her shoulder back to Alicia, who raced into the scoring area, followed by Flint himself.  
"PLOY!" screamed Katie before flying upwards. Alicia with the Quaffle tightly clutched in her hand shot upwards, with the clueless Chasers racing after her, right to the line of the scoring area, where she dropped it down into Jane's hand and quickly left the area to let Jane score.  
"AND ANOTHER UNBELIEVABLE SCORE!" hollered Lee "TEN TO ZERO FOR GRYFFINDOR!"  
"TWO MORE!" yelled Wood "JUST TWO MORE!"  
Even with the Slytherins crashing into them any chance they got, their Chasers had nothing on the three girls. Flint's only strategy seemed to be fouling them, and Warrington appeared to be yet another brainless brute. The only challenge was posed by Adrian Pucey. Not only was he the only one who played by the rules, but he knew what he was doing, and quickly figured out the Gryffindor's strategies, blocking them any chance he got  
"GET PUCEY!" called Jane to Fred "Hit him with everything you've got."  
"Charming." said Pucey, flying past her and elegantly catching the Quaffle being passed by Warrington, the next second he was gone and scored.  
"Shit-" ten to ten- three more. Fred and George did a great job at keeping Pucey at halt and bought the Gryffindor Chasers enough time to score another twenty points before he shook off the last Bludger and score for his team.  
"Two more." he said with a wink "Then your Seeker can do his job, is that correct?"  
"Ignore him-" said Alicia "He's the only one with a brain on their te-" Flint crashed into her with full force and the crowd booed loudly as Katie and Jane helped her back on her broom.  
"Sorry!" said Flint "Sorry, didn't see her!" the next second, Fred's Beater club hit him in the back of his head, sending his face to hit the handle of his broom and his nose began bleeding.  
"That will do!" yelled Madam Hooch "Penalty to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty to Slytherin for deliberate damage of their Chaser"  
"Come off it Miss!" said Fred but Madam Hooch blew her whistle.  
"Jane, get this right, and we need only ten more points." said Katie, handing her the Quaffle.  
Holding the Quaffle tightly and keeping her breath steady, Jane flew towards the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley. She bit her lip, blurred out all the noise around her, until all she could hear was the faint yells of Lee and her own breath and heartbeat. It all came down to physics. Baseball and physics. While heavily twisting her hand, she fired the Quaffle into direction of the right hoop, watched Bletchley abandon the middle hoop only for the ball to fly a curve and effortlessly fall through the big golden hoop in the middle. She sighed with relief and the sound of the cheering crowd returned to her ears.  
"YES!" yelled Lee "YES JANE! YES! FOURTY TO TWO FOR GRYFFINDOR!"   
She laughed with a feeling comparable to the effect of Euphoria potion rushing through her and threw her fist in the air before watching Slytherin's free throw be perfectly saved by Oliver.  
"One more- ONE MORE!" squealed Katie "I've got that one." They raced towards the scoring area, passing each other the Quaffle, always a second before one of the two cheating Chasers tried to throw them off their broom and Katie scored, accompanied by loud cheers. Jane looked up to Harry who had only been waiting for this moment, and began chasing through the air.  
"Okay," said Alicia "try scoring more points, but most importantly, don't let any of their Chasers get close to the Quaffle. We have to lead."  
After that moment, which felt like it was a win, the game carried on even longer. Hooch was busy handing out an uncountable amount of penalties and Lee was busy cursing and counting "Sixty to forty!" followed by "MAN FUCK YOU FLINT!"  
"MR JORDAN!" screamed McGonagall.  
"AND ALICIA SCORES! Hundred and forty to hundred and ten!" seconds later "YOU CHEATING SCUM!"  
"JORDAN!"  
"Sorry. Jane has the Quaffle, perfect Reverse Pass to Alicia- no, back to Jane- okay over to Katie- FLINT YOU FUCKING PRICK I WILL COME DOWN THERE AND BEAT YOUR STUPID ASS MYSELF IF YOU DON'T-"  
"JORDAN! IF YOU DON'T STOP-"  
"Sorry. Alright, Gryffindor is back in possession and- Pucey blocks another pass, but Katie is on it- passes to Alicia- she passes to Jane and SCORE! Two-hundred and sixty to Two-hundred and ten! AND OWWW THAT MUST HURT!"  
It did. A Bludger had struck Jane's forehead. Not hard enough to knock her out, just hard enough to knock her off her broom and have her blood gushing down into her eyes. That wasn't half as bad as the feeling of hitting the ground from about thirty feet height, and she let out a scream when she heard and felt her right arm- her precious deadly aim arm- break.  
"Oh fuck-" she hissed through gritted teeth and rolled on her back. Adrian Pucey landed next to her with the same elegance he had while playing and took out his wand. "Sod off-" grunted Jane "Last time Harry lost all his bones when-"  
"Ah stuff it." said Pucey "I've been taking lessons with Madam Pomfrey to become a healer." he didn't even say a word. He just waved his wand and Jane's arm felt as good as new "You're welcome." he said with a smirk and pulled her to her feet "I'm Adrian by the way-"  
"Yeah, I know." said Jane, mounting her broom "Thanks for the arm."  
"LUPIN IS BACK ON HER FEET AND BACK ON HER BROOM!" announced Lee and she wiped the blood from her blinded eye before joining in with full force. Ten more minutes, fifty more points and suddenly it was over "POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE HOUSE CUP!"  
"YES!" screamed Jane racing towards the ground, with the rest of the team. She hugged the Chasers, then George and then- well she wasn't quite sure what happened next- she went to give Fred a high five, but instead of returning that, he brushed a strand of hair, that stuck to the blood on her face aside, cupped her jaw in his hands and placed a firm kiss on her lips that made her drop her broom and let the butterflies in her stomach have a rave. It couldn't have been more than a second- maybe three- before he let go of her to congratulate Harry- but it felt like a small eternity- as if this one moment existed apart from every other moment, in a never ending loop.  
For a few more moments, she just stood on the field, deaf, as people shook her by the shoulders in congratulations, and seemingly unable to breathe, before she snapped back to reality and shook Oliver's hand- his face was red and tears were screaming down his face- that's right- they'd just won the house cup! THEY HAD JUST WON THE HOUSE CUP "HOLY SHIT WE WON!" yelled Jane "WE ACTUALLY WON!"   
"YES!" sobbed Wood "I- I really thought it was all over when you broke your arm- the way it was pointing in a completely wrong direction-" he shuddered "I would've been devastated- but we pushed through- we won! I won! WE WON JANE! WE WON!" he jumped up and down "You and Harry- you little balls of joy- god I love the two of you- If you ever go on to have children, let me know- god bless you-"  
She couldn't help but laugh hysterically, tears rushing into her own eyes as they were all hoisted onto the shoulders of the wide crowd- she looked around to see her father look at her with all the pride in the world, there were Ron and Hermione, bouncing around- Seamus and Dean held each other as they cheered- it was as if they'd just won a war. She also spotted Flint yelling at Adrian Pucey, over at the doors, but Pucey seemed fairly unbothered and winked at Jane, when he caught her eye.  
They were all sweaty, bruised and exhausted, but it didn't stop any of the Gryffindor players from crying in ecstasy when Oliver shook Dumbledore's hand and took the cup before passing it on to Harry.


	15. I N N O C E N T

If Jane wanted to good by herself, she would have to forget that Fred kissed her after the match. He didn't avoid her- actually they spent quite a lot of time together- well with George and Lee- but he didn't bring it up once, he didn't even seem to remember it, which was mostly fine by Jane, who just wanted to concentrate on studying and passing her exams- but she still would've liked a bit of an explanation. Even if his explanation was as simple as getting too excited about winning the cup. She wouldn't even mind. It was one hell of a first kiss, and all she had to do was think about it to feel like she was going to explode with happiness.  
The time surrounding exams was thoroughly unimpressive. Instead of the usual lively chatter, the common room's silence was only interrupted my the occasional moan or nervous breakdown. It was a sort of slump of smelly teenagers, sitting in their own corner, writing, reading, crying and drinking truckloads of coffee and Vitamix potions, only getting up to go to classes and maybe pee on occasions. But with the exams came something Jane, Harry, Ron and Hermione were dreading even more. Buckbeak's execution was set for the last day of the exams, and it didn't seem like he'd get as much as a hearing.  
And when Jane heard Malfoy brag about Buckbeak's execution, sounding more than pleased with himself, all the heat she'd been building up, stressing over the exams and Fred, made her boil over and she pushed him to the floor, sitting down on his stomach with her knees and his arms and let her fists rain down on him until Harry, Ron, Hermione and Seamus somehow managed to rip her off him "MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!" yelled Malfoy.  
"NOT IF IT CUT YOUR TONGUE OUT FIRST!" threatened Jane pointing her wand "TRY ME YOU LITTLE BITCH, I KNOW THE SPELL!"  
He showed her the finger and she snapped after his hand, ready to bite the finger off if she got close enough "Let go off me, I'll show him!" she kicked forward, missing Malfoy's stomach by an inch "I'll get his head, that-" Harry pressed his hand on her mouth and the four of them dragged her down the hallway.   
"Can you stop biting me?" asked Harry letting go of Jane's face and rubbing his hand "Gross-"  
"Next time don't try to gag me." said Jane "Why did you hold me back? I had him-"  
"Yes you also almost bought a one way ticket back home." said Ron "Expelled and never to return again. But good job anyways, he should wear his nose more often like this, swollen and bloody, it suits him."  
The exams themselves weren't really hard on Jane. Charms always came easy to her and both Transfigurations and Defence Against the Dark Arts were basically Charms all over just more specific. She was somewhat decent in potions- the Care of Magical Creatures exam was the easiest thing any of them ever had to do, Astronomy- yes, well Jane sort of had forgotten that she was still taking Astronomy, so that exam came as sort of a surprise- History of Magic- a multiple choice exam- didn't bug her too much either, Neville secretly helped Jane through her Herbology exam, and Divination- oh well Jane went on and on about the shape she was seeing, lying her way through a wonderfully crafted story, and left with a rather good feeling.  
"It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. What do you think it means?" said Harry on their way down to Hagrid's "I mean, it was bloody terrifying as it was- but- who's the servant?"  
"Maybe someone's going to break out of Azkaban?" said Jane "One of his deatheaters."  
"Black's been in Azkaban for twelve years-" said Ron.  
"Yeah, but he already broke out." said Jane "His most loyal servant was Lestrange- bloody hell, if she were to escape- mental that one."  
Harry knocked on Hagrid's door and a minute later, he opened, looking around rather pale-faced. "It's us-" said Harry "We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."  
"Yeh shouldn've come!" whispered Hagrid, but let them in either way "Wan' some tea?"  
Jane herself shook her head and sat down next to Fang, taking his big head in her lap and scratching his ears. "Where's Buckbeak, Hagrid?" said Hermione.  
"I- I took him outside. He's tethered in me pumpkin patch. Thought he oughta see the trees an'- an' smell fresh air- before-"  
Jane closed her eyes. None of this was fair "Can I go see him?" she asked quietly.  
"Yeh go do tha." agreed Hagrid and Jane snuck out to where Buckbeak was tied up.  
"Hey there Buckie-" she said sadly "You poor, sweet thing..." he let his head down and she stroked him between his eyes "You don't deserve any of this." Buckbeak seemed to agree with her "Y'know, I beat the shit out of Malfoy, just a few days ago. And we won the Quidditch game against his house, won the cup and all. He's a terrible Seeker-" she sniffed quietly "an even worse person."  
"Hey, Jane-" hissed Harry from the door "Good news, we found Scabbers. You can make peace with him." she didn't move an inch "Jane?"  
"Show me- show me-" she jumped back into the hut and grabbed Scabbers from Ron's hand, taking his paw in between her fingers and indeed, a toe was missing, a finger was missing "Gotta go." she said.  
"What abou-"  
"Gotta go! Sorry- I- go, gotta go." she sped down to the castle, it didn't matter if anyone was going to see her, she needed to tell him, she needed to tell him now "DAD!" she yelled running into his room "DAD! Sirius, he-"  
"What?" asked Remus with worry in his eyes.  
"Sirius, he's innocent- you have the map, did you look-" she was panting heavily, unable to form a complete sentence.  
"What are you talking about? You're completely out of breath, sit."  
"No time- map?"  
"It's right here." he said, laying the parchment out on the table "I was actually just-"  
"Don't care. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." she tapped the parchment to reveal the map and frantically searched for Hagrid's Hut "THERE! PETTIGREW!"  
"What?"  
"Look, right there, Peter Pettigrew! Don't you know what that means?"  
"How- how did you know?" he stammered, looking at the map.  
"Doesn't matter- come on- we can get him, we can get Pettigrew, tell Dumbledore- Fudge! FUDGE! He's down there right now! We can get the lot of them- prove Sirius is innocent-"  
"Wait- look." he pointed at Sirius' name appearing from the Willow. Seconds later, it disappeared together with Ron's and Pettigrew's name, just before Harry and Hermione followed them as well. "I'll take care of that-"  
"I'm coming with-"  
"Don't you dare."  
"Oh, but I do dare. They're down there with a murderer, he's my father, too. They're my friends."  
"Jane-"  
"No. Go." she said and almost pushed him out of the room.  
"I don't think you coming along is a good idea-" he said panting, as they ran down to the Willow. "Immobilus." he said, pointing his wand and the tree stopped moving.  
"Gotta remember that-" said Jane before following him into the tunnel. From the distance they could already hear the fight, loud screaming- Harry seamed to be screaming "Go faster-" she muttered "What if Pettigrew already attacked?"  
"WE'RE UP HERE!" came the muffled screams from Hermione "WE'RE UP HERE- SIRIUS BLACK-QUICK!"  
"So much for Pettigrew." muttered Remus "Sirius always had poor de-escalation skills..." they ran upstairs and he pushed the door open and entered the room. Sirius lay on his back, Crookshanks on his chest, Hermione was crouched over Ron, who had sustained a bad injury of the leg, and Harry standing over Sirius with his wand pointed at him. "Expelliarmus." Remus disarmed Harry within a second and Remus caught his wand, together with the two Hermione was holding "Hold onto them, will you Jane."   
"Jane-" said Sirius with the same disapproving tone "We really need to talk about that."  
"Not now, Sirius." said Jane taking the wands and crouching down in front of Ron "Does it hurt?"He looked fairly perplexed but nodded slightly. "Lenio." with a wave of her own wand she took his pain and walked back to her- fathers.  
"Where is he, Sirius?" asked Remus and both, Sirius and Jane pointed over to to Scabbers, trying to hide away in Ron's coat. "But then... why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless- unless he was the one... unless you switched... without telling me?"  
Sirius nodded .  
"Switched what?" asked Jane confused "Secr-"  
"Not now, Jane." he walked over to Sirius and helped him to his feet before pulling him into a tight hug, burying his face in his neck.  
"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" screamed Hermione and the two men broke apart "You- you-"  
"Hermione-" said Remus.  
"-you and him!"  
"Hermione, calm down-"  
"I didn't tell anyone! I've been covering up for you-"  
"Hermione, listen to me, please! I can explain-"  
"I trusted you," shouted Harry "and all the time you've been his friend!"  
"You're wrong! I haven't been Sirius' friend for twelve years, but I am now... let me explain..."  
"NO!" screamed Hermione "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too- he's a werewolf!"  
"He did no such thing!" said Jane "He didn't trust Sirius! Not until he got the map not unti-"  
"Jane, why are you still with them?" asked Harry quietly. Her heart dropped to her feet at the look of betrayal burning through her skin.  
"Let him explain-"  
"You're with him?" shrieked Hermione "You've been helping Black as well?"  
"Of course she was-" said Harry quietly "She's his daughter." his face turned stone cold when he looked at Jane. She'd seen his wrath before, the look of complete hatred. It just had never been directed at her before "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you. The second you told me- I should've known you'd betray me-"  
"I never wanted to betray you Harry- I had to protect my father-"  
"So it's true then?" asked Ron "All along you've been-"  
"Not all along." Jane shook her head "I haven't helped him- I just- I mean, not really- I just-"  
"Wait-" said Remus "You knew where he was hiding and you didn't even tell me?"  
"I couldn't! You would've told Dumbledore, he'd be dead now- I didn't have proof-"  
"You should've told me Jane!"  
"Why? Can't you see? He'd be dead! He's innocent and he'd be dead-"  
"I would've understood."  
She shook her head "I tried, don't you remember? Tried to make you thing, what if Pettigrew survived-"  
"Suppose you lied to me, when you said you ran from the Dementors-"  
"Give her a break, Remus." said Sirius "This is about him." he made a step towards Ron, but Harry pushed him back.  
"Don't you dare touch him."  
"Harry just let him-"  
"SHUT UP JANE!" he seemed to hold back his tears "I loved you like a sister, three years, I trusted you more than anyone, just like my father did with yours, and just like him, you betray me-"  
"I had no choice-"  
"YES YOU DID! You said I meant the world to you. Who is he? Just because Sirius Black held you when you were an infant you put him over me?"  
"Harry! Listen! You're like a brother to me, don't you think I'd have a good reason? Do you think I'd hurt you like this, if there wasn't an explanation? He's innocent!"  
"Don't listen to her." said Hermione "You know how good of a liar she is."  
"She's not lying." sighed Remus "He's innocent. I can explain- Jane, give them their wands back, put yours away."  
"Well, goodbye sweet life." muttered Jane, throwing the three wands at them and sticking her own into her jacket's pocket.  
"There." said Remus "You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"  
"Fine." said Harry quietly "How could he possibly be innocent?"  
"Ron," said Remus calmly "I need you to give me your rat."  
"Why?" asked Harry angrily.  
"Because-" started Jane but Harry cut her off.  
"I hate your voice so much right now, Black. I asked Professor Lupin."  
"Alright-" Jane backed away and listened to her father explain Howe they'd seen them on the map, how he saw Sirius drag Ron and Pettigrew away-  
"What's my rat got to do with anything?"   
"That's not a rat." said Sirius.  
"What d'you mean- of course he's a rat-"  
"No, he's not." said Remus "He's a wizard."  
"An Animagus," said Sirius "by the name of Peter Pettigrew."  
"You're all mental." said Ron.  
"Ridiculous." said Hermione.  
Jane sighed "May I speak or are you going to snap again Potter?"  
"Sure-" scoffed Harry "try having it make sense, Black."  
"When I met Sirius, I didn't believe him either. Nothing he'd told me. I didn't even believe he was my father until- well until my father- Professor Lupin- told me it was the truth. What Sirius had told me- that Ron's rat was Peter Pettigrew- well, I wanted to believe it more than I actually did- until I noticed a few things. The map- when my father told us he could read it, I figured that Wormtail had to be a rat, so that added up. Sirius told be, that Pettigrew cut off his finger, in that pub he killed all those Muggles in- Scabbers is missing a toe. And I also saw the name Peter Pettigrew on the map, right before we came here. Don't forgive me for lying about Sirius, that's fine. But at least take a look at Scabbers and see for yourself." the three of them just kept staring at her "Harry, please. Take Scabbers and see for yourself. All that was found of Pettigrew was his finger."  
Harry finally took his deadly stare off Jane and looked at Ron "Give me Scabbers, Ron. Just to show them they're all insane."  
Ron's lip quivered a little "Don't let either of the Blacks touch him, they'll kill him."  
"Damn right-" said Sirius but Jane held him back before he could go reaching for Pettigrew himself.  
Harry took Pettigrew from Ron's hands, but the rat seemed to be fighting for his life as harry held his front paw still "One toe's missing-" he said quietly.  
"Doesn't prove anything." said Hermione harshly "Scabbers can't be Pettigrew."  
"And why is that?" asked Remus.  
"Because... because people would know if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework- the Ministry keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals; there's a register showing what animal they become, and their markings and things-"  
Jane snorted with laughter "Right, because someone can be a murderer but not an unregistered Animagus. I'm curious, Hermione. Did you see the name Sirius Black on the list? Did you see James Potter? All three of them were Animagi, they're all unregistered."  
"Did you tell her?" asked Sirius Remus.  
"Honestly, she figured most of it out herself- she's right." he said to Hermione "James, Sirius and Peter were all three unregistered Animagi."  
"Can we just kill him already?" groaned Sirius impatiently.  
"You won't kill anyone." said Jane and the two men both raised their eyebrows "Fudge is at Hogwarts right now. We'll bring Pettigrew to him-"  
"That is not for you to decide Am-"  
"Do I look like I fucking care? You're not a murderer, I won't allow you to become one now. If we bring him to Fudge- don't you understand that that's going to prove your innocence? Don't you understand you can be a free man? If you kill Pettigrew, the Dementors are never going to leave you alone. So, since I don't want you to have your soul sucked out, and would much rather watch Pettigrew lose his, yes it is for me to decide." just as she finished talking, a loud creek sounded from the door behind them. "What was that?"  
"Nothing-" said Remus, checking the door.  
"This place is haunted!" said Ron.  
"It's not. The Shrieking Shack was never haunted-" said Remus, but Jane suddenly couldn't help but wonder where Harry had left his Invisibility Cloak. That creak- she got up and walked towards the door, she reached for her wand, but before she could reach it, one hand snapped both her arms together, and the other turned her around and covered her mouth, just as a scream escaped her mouth.  
"Am!" yelled Sirius, and looked at the disembodied hands holding her still.  
"Oh, of course you'd ruin this." snarled Snape's voice, pushing Jane into Sirius' arms and taking Harry's invisibility cloak off. "I would've loved to listen to Lupin's little story for a while."  
"Severus-" Sirius looked around "What the fuck is he doing here?"  
"He's the potions master." said Jane coolly "Crappy one."  
He just sneered at her "Sorry that you don't have the intelligence to understand what I'm teaching Miss Black."  
"Wait, he knows?" she asked.  
"You look alike!" laughed Snape "Sirius, Remus, did you drop her on the head too often when she was little?"  
"Original." muttered Jane.  
"Yes, the two of you must be so proud of this genius-" mocked Snape "A real-"  
"We get it!" hissed Jane "I'm stupid. Move on."  
He turned to look at Remus instead "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?"  
"You obviously went sniffing around my father's office and saw the map, and us coming here." scoffed Jane.  
"So I did." said Snape "You forgot to take your Potion tonight, Lupin, so I took a gobletful along."  
Jane looked at her father with a hint of worry. "Severus-" he said.  
"I've told the Headmaster again and again that you've been helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as a hideout-"  
"Severus, you're making a mistake. You haven't heard everything- I can explain- Sirius is not here to kill Harry-"  
"Two more for Azkaban tonight. I shall be interested how Dumbledore takes this... he was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf..."  
"You fool. Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"  
Ropes, the kind Jane was way too familiar with, shot out of Snape's wand and wrapped themselves around her father's mouth, wrists and ankles and Jane watched him fall to the ground "Familiar with that one, are you Black?" snarled Snape, and Jane wasn't quite sure whether he was talking to her or Sirius, who started towards Snape with a loud roar, but Snape held his wand right between Sirius' eyes "Give me a reason." he whispered dangerously "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."  
Jane's entire face was violently twitching "Don't you dare hurt him." she said quietly.  
"Why, what will you do?" his eyes were sparkling with hatred "Go on, I'd love to see it."  
She pointed her wand at him without saying a single spell, and he did the same, only that she flew all the way backwards into a wall, hitting her head hard before she fell to the ground. But it was exactly what she wanted. With a violent right hook, Sirius sent Snape to the ground and Jane threw him her own wand to untie Remus, and have the ropes wrap themselves around Severus instead.  
"Jane-" Harry fell to his knees in front of her "Are you alright?" all his hatred for her seemed to have passed, even if only for the moment, and the puddle of blood next to her told her why.  
"Head hurts a bit." she muttered.  
"Step aside Harry." said Sirius gently, before healing the wound at the back of Jane's head and giving her her wand back.  
Jane grabbed Harry's face and looked him deep in the eyes "Harry, you know when I'm lying don't you." she said, ignoring Hermione and Ron both pointing their wands at her.  
He nodded "Most of the time."  
"Then look me in the eye and tell me I'm lying right now. Pettigrew, he betrayed your parents. I didn't understand right away, but him and Sirius, they switched, Pettigrew was their new secret keeper. He sold them out to Voldemort, he killed twelve muggles, cut off his finger to fake his death and escaped in the form of a rat, framing Sirius for the crime. Sirius never got a trial, he never got the chance to defend himself. He broke into your dorm and didn't kill you, instead he was searching for Scabbers. He was hanging around Crookshanks, telling him to get Scabbers, Peter Pettigrew. Do you believe me?"  
He backed away a little before nodding "Yes- I mean it doesn't make sense- yet- but I believe you."  
"Harry-" said Hermione quietly.  
"Hermione, what's the worst that could happen? They had the chance to kill us, and they didn't do it. We bring Scabbers to the castle, up to Fudge and show him."  
"What if she's lying." said Ron "We can't take Black along, the Dementors-"  
"I'll stay." said Hermione "I'll keep my eye on Black. I have a wand, he doesn't. You go up to the castle with Lupin. Take his wand first."  
"Fine." said Ron, "But quickly, Scabbers keeps biting. He's scared."  
"Of course he's scared." barked Sirius "He knows he's about to go to Azkaban."  
"I still think you're all mad." muttered Ron, but he obliged and together, him, Harry, Jane and Lupin crawled back through the tunnel. "Bit me again."  
"What was that-" snarled Jane "He only bites me, it's not Scabbers fault I don't know how to treat a rat right?"  
"You know Black, I still don't trust you one bit." hissed Ron "If I were you, I would shut my mouth."  
They made it past the Whomping Willow and half the way across the field, before the air turned ice cold. "No, no, no-" said Jane, seconds before the first Dementor swooped down on them "What the hell-"  
"Snape." said Remus "Harry, give me my wand-" another Dementor swooped down on them, clutching Jane's face and she once again saw its horrible mouth expand under its hood. There it was again. Drowning. The feeling of being at the bottom of the ocean. A person wouldn't just drown if they were there, at the deepest point of the sea. They'd be crushed by the pressure, they'd freeze, drowning was almost the least of the worries one would've had down there. This Dementor had so much more to feast on than the one on the train. All Jane had done this year was feel guilty, angry, confused, lost- so lost- she looked at her mother, Hazel, she seemed like a fierce, fiery woman, even with her last breaths she was firing snarky insults at the deatheaters. But they were drowned out by her screams of pain. They didn't just kill her- they had their fun with her, torturing her until she lay on the ground, begging for death.  
"Jane- Jane!" he father shook her "Come on- quick-" she looked around trying to make a sense of what was going on. Harry was kneeling on the ground, his wand pointed towards the sky, the silvery light shooting out of his wand, formed an entire dome, keeping the Dementors at bay as his patrons, the stag of silvery light jumped around in the air. "Come on- almost there-" Ron helped Remus carry jane into the castle, his hand tightly clutching his rat and Harry on their heels. "Thank Merlin." panted Remus when Harry pulled the door shut behind them.  
"Dad-" Jane was still trying to collect her thoughts "Go- go take the potion-"  
His eyes went wide "Yes- oh I'm a fool- you go ahead- find Dumbledore. The spell you'll need is hominibus revelio." he winked at them "In case something goes wrong, it also works on werewolves- temporarily." he ran away, and Harry did his best at carrying Jane and Ron up to the Gargoyle corridor. Jane's spell still worked on Ron's leg, but with all the running he'd been doing, it was looking worse by the minute and his face slowly began showing the pain he was in.  
"Harry, Ron's in pain again." said Jane "The spell is Lenio. It'll make it better."  
"Oh-" said Harry, and instead of taking care of Ron he gave Jane her wand back, which resulted in loud protest from Ron, but Jane just quickly took care of his leg and gave her wand back to Harry. "I trust you-"  
"I don't deserve it." she said quietly "I lied to you for almost a year. Even during the times I lost faith in Sirius."  
"Guys-" said Ron, holding up the rat, which had gone completely feral, trying to bite his way out of Ron's hand "How do we get into Dumbledore's office?"  
Harry shrugged his shoulders "How about knocking?" he said and knocked against the stone wall. Not much later the door opened and Dumbledore curiously looked down on them.  
"Ah- what are the three of you-" his eye fell on Ron's leg and then on the rat "Why don't you come in?"  
They nodded and Harry carried the two of them into the office. "Is Fudge still here?" asked Jane without wasting any time.  
"Yes, Fudge is here." said Cornelius Fudge himself "How can I help you?"  
"It's about Sirius Black." she said swiftly "I am here to prove his innocence."  
"I'm sorry what?" asked Fudge.  
"I have a witness." she said firmly "Ron, can you present the witness?"  
He held his rat up "This is Scabbers." he said quietly.  
Fudge laughed loudly "Now kids, very funny but Sirius-"  
"It's not a joke." interrupted Jane "This isn't just an ordinary rat. What Ron is holding in his hand, is an unregistered animagus, also going by the name of Peter Pettigrew-"  
"Ridiculous!" said McGonagall "Peter Pettigrew is dead!"  
"Yeah, so I've heard." said Jane coolly "Peter Pettigrew is dead and my father killed him. That's how the story goes, heard it about a million times. Now the only problem is, he's not. Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters, Peter Pettigrew killed twelve Muggles, Peter Pettigrew cut off his own finger to fake his death and framed one of his closest friends, Sirius Black, for all the crimes."  
"But where's the proof-" stuttered Fudge.  
"I told you, Ron is holding the proof in his hands." she pointed at the rat "Take him and see for yourself, just make sure he doesn't escape." Dumbledore pulled up a chair, and had Ron place his rat on top of it. "Hold him tight, Ron. Harry, you remember the spell?"  
"If you don't mind." said McGonagall "Before you end up killing an innocent rat on accident, let me perform the spell." with her wand in her hand she walked up to the chair "Hominibus revelio." she said, and with a flash of blue light, the rat began to grow into the form of a plump man with grubby skin and colourless, messy hair "Peter-" said McGonagall in disbelief "It's- it's him alright-"   
Ron's jaw had fallen to the floor, he looked at the man with utter confusion "B-but- Scabbers-"  
"Tell them, Pettigrew." hissed Jane "Tell them you framed my father, tell them-"  
"I'm sorry-" interrupted Fudge "Your father?"  
Dumbledore sighed "I'm afraid some explaining is in order. This girl is Black's daughter, Amaris Black- people assumed she'd died side by side with her mother of course, but the truth is, she went on to be raised by one of Black's closest friends instead."  
"That's not what matters, is it?" said Jane "I want Pettigrew to confess, and I want you-" she pointed at Fudge "to declare Black a free man."  
"Escaping Azkaban is still a crime young lady-"  
"He was falsely convicted, spent twelve years in Azkaban, and escaped to expose the one who really committed the crime. Ron's family has been living with a mass-murderer for twelve years! One day, Voldemort might return, and then? Pettigrew would've cut their throats in their sleep for all we know and joined the deatheaters again. My father deserves his freedom, after everything that was done to him."  
"Well-" said Fudge "Pettigrew, do you confess?"  
"What's there to confess?" asked Jane angrily.  
"Mr Potter," said Dumbledore "We've got it from here, please help Miss Black and Mr Weasley to the hospital wing."  
"Call off the Dementors." insisted Jane "Those beasts tried to kill me thrice by now-"  
Dumbledore raised his hand "We'll talk later Miss Black, go rest."  
Jane felt nothing but exhaustion when they arrived in the hospital wing and fell flat into one of the beds. "Oh-" said Madam Pomfrey "What- what happened?"  
"So much." muttered Harry "Ron's leg is mush by now, Jane- Amaris- er- she had another Dementor down her throat..."  
"Jane." said Jane quietly.  
"Oh dear." said Madam Pomfrey "I'll get you some Euphoria Potion-"  
"Please don't. I'm far too exhausted to be all drugged up again. Just- I'll just sleep." with that she closed her eyes, and let the post-dementor-attack-nightmares take over her mind.


	16. D U M B L E D O R E 'S   F A T A L   F L A W

"Ama." a slightly croaky voice ripped Jane from her sleep "Ama, wake up." Blinded by the light shining into the hospital wing, Jane looked up to see Sirius and Remus both sit by her bedside. "There you are." said Sirius with a soft smile "You've been tossing all night, Remus told me you had quite a bad encounter with the Dementors yesterday. Nightmares, no doubt?"  
She nodded and rubbed her eyes "You're here-" she said with a hoarse voice "Does that mean-"  
He smiled "I'm a free man. Pettigrew confessed to it all but-"  
"But the prophecy came true." said Harry "They were about to take him away when he ripped himself free, turned into a rat and escaped- The Dark Lord's servant broke free."  
"He escaped?" she asked anxiously "He'll come to kill us, won't he?"  
"Don't think so." said Harry.  
"Can't believe our rat was some creepy old guy..." Jane turned her head to see the Weasley siblings sitting around Ron's bed "Poor Ronnikins shared a bed with a thirty year old murderer for three years-" joked Fred "And before that, you were all cuddled up with him, Perce."   
"What about Snape?" asked Jane "I mean, you punched him-" she pointed at Sirius "and tied him up- I helped- we broke like a hundred school rules yesterday-"  
"Don't worry." he smiled again, and Jane noticed that his yellow teeth had gone back to a pearl-white colour, actually- he looked much healthier in general, less waxy- less like a corpse- Madam Pomfrey must've taken care of him once everything was settled. He even cut his dirty long hair off and seemed to have taken a proper shower.  
"How are you feeling?" asked Remus, feeling Jane's forehead "Still messed up from the attack?"  
Jane shook her head "Exhausted and my head is booming- but I'm fine. It's nothing like the last time."  
"There's quite a few things we'd like to talk to you about-"  
"Not now Remus." said Sirius, taking him by the hand "I think her friends still have a story to tell her, don't they?" Harry nodded and Hermione, who'd been silently sitting by Ron' bed came into view nodding as well. "We have all the time in the world Moony, let them talk for now."  
"What were they going on about?" asked Jane.  
"Well-" Harry sat down with a wide smile "After you fell asleep, Dumbledore came by and said, if we had any idea where Black was, we could tell him now, because apparently Pettigrew admitted to everything, and Fudge agreed to have him cleared of the charges for escaping Azkaban, because he helped find the real murderer. So your father and I went back to the Shack, and Dumbledore settled everything with Black-"  
"Though he didn't seem too thrilled about it." said Hermione "He said that- well-"  
"He said that I still couldn't go live with him." said Harry "No matter what happens, no matter he's my godfather, I can't live with him."  
Jane furrowed her eyebrows, what was thought she had- there was no way Dumbledore didn't know Sirius was innocent all along... "Odd."  
"Yes." said Harry "Anyways, that's not the part we were gonna tell you about. He held us back for a moment and said 'It's not too late to save a life.' Which, I was very confused by... then he gave Hermione a meaningful look, said 'three turns should be enough' and left."  
"What?"  
"My reaction exactly." said Harry "But Hermione of course just said oh why didn't I think of that, y'know, as she does, and pulled me out of the Shack right into the forest. She took out that necklace thing of her, spun it, and suddenly it was bright outside-"  
Hermione rolled her eyes "Oh, Harry, you're such a dramatic storyteller. At the beginning of the term, McGonagall gave me a thing called Time Turner, so that I could get to all my classes. We travelled back in time, to the moment, before Buckbeak was executed."  
Jane sat up straight "Wait, you- did you save him? Did you save Buckbeak?"  
Harry nodded happily "We did. Brilliant, isn't it?"  
She couldn't believe it "Brilliant, yes- d'you think McGonagall would trust me with a ti-"  
"No." said Hermione "I don't think anybody would trust you with being able to just travel through time."  
"Right, yes..."  
"Anyways- once we were back, time was normal again and Madam Pomfrey and Professor Lupin were force feeding Black with Euphoria Potion and chocolate- well, Lupin and Black told us loads of stories."  
Harry's eyes were glistening "About my father, about their time at Hogwarts- people think the Shrieking Shack is haunted because of them, did you know? Oh, and there was that one time your and my father fled from the Muggle police- like a sort of movie chase scene with your father's motorbike-"  
"My father doesn't have a motorbi-"  
"I mean Sirius-" said Harry "Sorry. And it flies! The bike flies. That's how they escaped the police."  
"Well," said Hermione "I think that's one of the less admirable things to have told you about, honestly."  
"Oh stick it, it's cool." said Harry "Imagining my father running from the police, on a motorbike, that flies- and Sirius..." he smiled softly "I really like him."  
Jane smiled as well "Yeah, he's not half bad."  
"You know," said Hermione "they've been talking about what's going to happen with you as well. Professor Lupin said it was your choice whether you wanted to stay with him, or live with your real father-"  
"Did he say real father?" frowned Jane.  
Hermione nodded slightly "Yeah... he said he'd understand, of course but-"  
Jane rolled her eyes "Well, what if I don't want to choose? That moron, we had a whole conversation about how it doesn't make him any less of my father."  
"Well-" him and Sirius came back into the hospital wing "I wouldn't say moron but- well, last time we had this conversation, I thought we were on the same page about Sirius being a murderer."  
"Nice." said Sirius "Anyways Ama, I told Remus loads of times that I won't try to get in the middle of this. I haven't been there for your entire life so-"  
Jane just groaned loudly "It's like talking to apes. Sirius, you were in Azkaban. The Azkaban. For twelve years. Falsely accused. Now, I may not be the smartest around here, but I'd say that definitely makes it on the top 10 reasons for not being around list. Together with being murdered, kidnapped, getting lost in an Ikea- anyways, I'd love to get to know you, if you don't mind. And for you dad-" she turned to Remus "you raised me for twelve years. What, you think because we don't have the same hair, I suddenly stop thinking of you as my father? My choice, bullshit. There's no choice to be made, unless one of you decide you'd rather run as long as you can, because- well, obvious reasons. Off topic, but is Madam Pomfrey around?"  
"I've been summoned?" asked Madam Pomfrey, pulling back a curtain.  
"Can I leave yet? I feel fine but I think I have to talk to Dumbledore." said Jane.  
Madam Pomfrey walked over with a sigh and began feeling Jane's temperature and pulse "You seem to be fine. Fine, go."  
Jane nodded "Thank you." and left the room.  
"So, what are you planning?" asked Sirius, who followed her outside.  
"I just have a question." said Jane with a hint of anger. "I find it peculiar how someone like Dumbledore, someone with great influence, who knew you for seven years, didn't even try to get them to at least let you have a trial. I think it's weird, that now that you're proven to be innocent, he somehow still doesn't want you to do what godfathers do and allow Harry to maybe come live with you. I think, Dumbledore knew damn well that you didn't do shit, and I think he let you rot on purpose, to keep you away from Harry and bloody hell, I'd just love to know why."  
"I've been thinking the same thing." said Remus quietly.  
"You should've seen how he looked at us when we brought in Pettigrew." muttered Jane "He was disappointed, like a plan of his went seriously wrong."  
Sirius shook his head "Rubbish, I seemed guilty, why would Dumbledore even bother? Everybody thought I had the blood of three of my friends and of twelve muggles on my hands."  
"You know he's a Legilimens, right?" said Jane.  
"What?" asked Remus.  
"I caught him trying to read my mind last year, after Fred, George and I shrunk the entire furniture in the Great Hall to doll house size and turned it into a few different Portkeys leading to the library. It was harmless prank, really, but apparently it's illegal to make unauthorized portkeys..."  
"How come I didn't get a letter for that one?"   
"Ah, because as I said, Dumbledore tried to read my mind, but I just sang the Ghostbusters theme in my head until he stopped... didn't get any proof. Anyways, Snape's one, too. Have to be careful lying around these too- what I'm trying to say is, if Dumbledore wanted to, he could've requested to see Sirius for just a minute, and he could've known he was innocent. They could've given him Veritas Serum to prove it. But he chose not to, and I think he had a reason for that. And that reason wasn't believing you were guilty, Sirius."  
He seemed to still be processing what she'd just said "You turned the Great Hall's tables into- portkeys?"  
"Wha- yeah, but that's not the point."  
He laughed "Do you often do things like that?"  
"I'm afraid so." said Dumbledore, joining them from around a corner "Suppose Miss Black has a rather sharp mind."  
"So, she's right?"  
The old man sighed deeply "Why don't we go up to my office." he led them back into his office, where the closer they got, the more burn-marks Jane spotted on the stone floor. They must've fired quite a few spells at Pettigrew while he was trying to escape.  
"Hey Fawkes." she said softly, letting the Phoenix, that saved their lives last year, sweetly peck her finger.  
"So- is it true then?" asked Remus quietly "Did you know Sirius was innocent?"  
Dumbledore began pacing up and down "I had my suspicions, yes. I didn't know that Pettigrew was an Animagus, but-"  
Jane turned around to look at Sirius, who's face was twitching slightly "Why didn't you- help me?" he didn't sound angry. He sounded like a lost boy, deeply hurt by someone he'd trusted.  
"I had my reasons." said Dumbledore "I knew that, if you were there, Harry would go on to live with you. I couldn't let that happen. Harry had to stay with his aunt and uncle- to keep him safe."  
A burning ball of anger filled Jane's stomach "So," she said quietly "you knew my father was innocent, and instead of telling him, he couldn't let Harry live with us- you rather saw him rot in Azkaban?"  
"He is his legal godfather." said Dumbledore, as if that changed anything "I knew if he were in prison-"  
"He had a daughter, Dumbledore." said Remus "He had a family- you knew-"  
"I had to do what was right for the greater good." said Dumbledore "Harry has to live with the Dursleys, he-"  
"You could've told me." said Sirius "I would've understood."  
"Even if Harry had to live with the Dursleys, he could've come visit from time to time." said Jane "As long as he lived with them, as long as he spent enough time with them, he could've grown up with real love in his life." she drew a long shaky breath "Eleven years. Harry grew up, believing he was a burden, that nobody could possibly love him, that he was nothing, for eleven years."  
"You don't understand why I did it."  
"No, I do. Lily's sacrifice, the protection, it lives on in her sister, doesn't it. Doesn't matter that Petunia hates her nephew, doesn't matter she treats him like a servant and has him thank her for taking him in at all, as long as he's with her, he can't be touched. But you see, Sirius is no idiot. You could've explained it and he would've understood. Harry wouldn't have had to suffer like this. There's always a different way. Sirius didn't have to suffer like this, if you trusted anyone but yourself."  
"I couldn't trust the Dursleys to keep Harry if they knew that he had a godfather."  
"There were ways. There's always a way with magic. Harry deserved better. Sirius deserved better." suddenly it hit her "If- if you would've proven his innocence, he would've been there that night my mother died. He could've saved her life-" he eyes and nose kept twitching and Sirius looked like he'd been shot.  
"Hazel is dead?" he asked "Hazel died? How?"  
"She was alone on the day I came to talk to you." said Remus carefully "I went to your home as soon as I left, as soon as you told me to look after them- had to fight off a group of deatheaters, but I- I was to late."  
"I saw it happen." said Jane "When the Dementor had me, I saw it. She fought till her last breath, she was brilliant."  
"Oh-" said Sirius "I- I have to go... just for a while-" he left the office and Jane quickly went after him.  
"I'm sorry. I didn't know you didn't know."  
"No, it's fine. We lost a lot of friends during those days. I just never even considered the possibility of her being dead. It's weird. I'm sorry Ama, I'm really sorry you had to grow up without a mother-"  
"I never knew her." said Jane "I bet she was wonderful, but all I ever knew was Remus. It was good enough for me. It's still sad though. But I figure it's worse for the two of you than for me-" she didn't want him to think she had an unhappy childhood, but she also didn't want to downplay the death of his friend "I am really sorry about it."  
Remus came out into the hallway, looking unusually red "Well- I never, in my entire life thought, I'd find myself yelling at Dumbledore, not after he so kindly hired me... but it seems I have to quit anyways, so-"  
"Wait, why?"   
"Snape." he frowned with disgust "Let the state of my condition slip during breakfast. Accidentally of course."  
"Hate that guy." said Jane and Sirius in unison and then Sirius said "Well, as far as I know, our old place at Grimmauld Place still stands empty... I suppose- well, it's rather big, isn't it. There would probably be room for three to four people- I guess it would be quite a lot cheaper-"  
"Sirius-" said Remus "You're not offering to-"  
"I don't know what I'm offering, honestly." said Sirius "But I am asking you to come live with me. Harry could stay over as often as he'd like, there would even be enough room for Hermione and Ron to come visit the kids... it's still secret- I mean it's all in rather bad condition... would have to fix it up quite a bit." he sighed "Didn't ever think of going back there but I suppose it could work."  
Jane tried to hide her excitement about the idea of living with both of them, of not having to chose, of getting to know Sirius, of the two of them reuniting, of having Harry come visit and get to know Sirius as well, of having her happy thought for producing a Patronus come true. It was no more wishful thinking, it was one 'yes' away. She looked expectantly at Remus, whose smile was brighter than she'd ever seen before. He looked at the floor and then back at Sirius and said very quietly "I missed you so much Pads- I mean, if you mean it-"  
"I do, Moony." said Sirius, with the sort of kindness and love in his eyes, Jane only saw in the smallest amount of people "If you and Ama want to, I'd love to have you around."  
"Well, Jane?" said Remus "How does that sound to you?"  
She nodded "Absolutely perfect"  
"Well then-" he looked like he was trying to keep his emotions at bay, his eyes sparkling, his lips quivering in the desperate attempt to form a smile. He'd probably be a bad poker player, thought Jane. "Why don't you go back to the hospital wing, make sure Ron's feeling better, I'll talk some things through with Sirius."  
The Weasley siblings, Harry and Hermione were all devastated to hear the news of Remus having to quit. Losing their first decent DADA teacher, whose lessons were always interesting, educational and fun, was something they didn't take too lightly. Harry muttered rather aggressive curse words, that would've made Madam Pomfrey herself give him detention if she stood any closer to them. They also agreed on having a big problem. With Pettigrew, Voldemort's servant free, on the run, about to rejoin him and- it was scary to think what would happen once Voldemort returned.  
But Jane had another worry, one that might've seemed selfish, but it didn't let her rest. She didn't care too much that Ron and Hermione looked at her weirdly, they were close friends before and they'd probably make it back there eventually; but she felt like something had gone from Harry's eyes. He didn't look weirdly, it just felt different. Whatever had gone, she missed it terribly. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked carefully and Harry nodded casually, before following her outside. She didn't get out a single word until they reached the courtyard, and even then it took her about twenty more stuttered attempts until she finally managed to produce a sentence. "Harry, what can I do to fix all this?"  
"All what?"  
"Us." she said, standing awkwardly in front of him "How can I fix us?"  
He seemed rather confused, his brows furrowed as he tilted his head "What's wrong with us?"  
"You said it yourself." she said "That you should've known you couldn't trust me. I kept Sirius secret, even when I doubted him. I listened to you worry about him, be angry at him, and wishing to find him and I lied to you, for a year. I betrayed your trust, and I am really sorry, but just tell me what you want me to do to fix it, and I'll do it."  
"Jane- there's nothing to fix. He's your father and he's innocent. I said I should've known, because I thought you were like him, betraying me- but he never betrayed my parents, and you protected him because he was innocent. Now, that I know the truth... I understand why you did it. I even understand why you didn't tell me. I was blinded by hatred, I wouldn't have listened. I would've forced you to tell me where he was. You did what was necessary. How could I be mad at that."  
"Because friends don't lie."  
"And family don't hold grudges." he said calmly "That's what we've been saying, haven't we? We're family?"  
Jane nodded.  
"Till the end of the line." he said "It's not the end yet, is it."


	17. A   N E W   C H A P T E R

There was something exciting about leaving Hogwarts that year. Jane had passed her exams, even though her own father had given her a Poor for the year. He was going to give her a Dreadful until Neville told him about the werewolf lesson, Jane took over at the beginning of the year. She won't be going back to Yorkshire this year. Instead Jane would spend the summer at Grimmauld Place 12, in Islington, London. Sirius had left as soon as Madam Pomfrey had him back on his feet, to try and fix the place up and hopefully remove the portrait of his mother, and Remus had followed him as soon as the final grades had been handed out.  
She sat on the train, her head against the window, and watched Ron play with Crookshanks. They seemed to have buried their hatchet, only halfway but it was a start and Harry happily read a letter Sirius had given him, which included his permission to visit Hogsmeade during his coming years at Hogwarts. "I think it might be a good summer for once." he said, folding the letter up and putting it into his pocket "And if that Grimmauld Place is just a ruin with half a room and a toilet at the end of the bed, I'd still prefer staying there."  
Jane herself was playing with the pair of keys, Sirius had sent her for Christmas "Does Triumph make motorbikes?"  
"Yeah, brilliant ones." said Harry, and looked at the keys "You don't think he'd-"  
"Dunno." said Jane "Maybe he just wanted me to keep them safe for him."  
"Well," said Hermione "that barely matters, does it. You'd be too young to-"  
"Hermione-" said Ron "you've lost all your goody-two-shoes points this year. You've lost the right to lecture us." Hermione just stuck her tongue out before returning to her book, but both their faces were just a little redder than usual.  
Jane groaned when yet another first year stuck his head into the compartment, just to check if the rumours- which had spread like a wildfire- of Sirius Black's child attending Hogwarts, were really true. "Honestly, if the Daily Prophet doesn't make as big of a deal of Sirius being innocent, and Pettigrew being the actual murderer, I'll just transfer to Ilvermorny."  
"If I were you, I'd use it to my advantage." said Ron "Saw Malfoy run into Sirius, right before he left, he almost crapped his pants, that git. Reckon you could-"  
"Jane doesn't want people to think her father, who we are all defending, by the way, is a mass murderer." said Hermione "It'll cost us loads of trouble with everybody who doesn't know the truth, and it's a bad reputation."  
"All I know is I'll tell the Dursleys that my godfather is a convicted murderer on the loose." said Harry thoughtfully "Maybe they'll get off my back for once."  
"Well, you know where to go if they don't." said Jane.  
Harry smiled fondly. He'd been doing that quite a lot. Jane didn't know all the details, but him and Sirius had spent hours talking, and she figured they must've covered absolutely everything in those hours. The first time she'd walked in, Harry seemed to be moved to tears by a longwinded story about his first birthday. When Jane came in about two hours later, they were at each other's throats ("How was I supposed to know he didn't know Darth Vader was Luke's father?" "HE WAS IN AZKABAN HARRY!" "That's why my father told me to stay away from the Potters before I first came to Hogwarts. You keep spoiling things!") and then, yet another time, she walked in to find Sirius standing on a table (And then- and I'm telling you, I almost died- James kicked him in the face- we were banned from the Three Broomsticks for five months.")  
By the time Sirius had left them, Harry and him looked more like best friends than godfather and godson, but it didn't come as much of a surprise, Sirius acted more like a lad than a parental figure. Part of his mind was still stuck in his twenties, and he seemed to be dead-set on living them out, since he couldn't do it the first time. The best part was that Remus acted the same way. As soon as Sirius and his chaotic personality stood anywhere near him, he suddenly looked fifteen years younger, cursed like a sailor and laughed along, without a worry on his mind. It was a wave of fresh wind compared to his usually somber mood.  
"Well, I know we'll definitely stop by." said Ron "Imagine, the four of us spending a summer together, that would be something, wouldn't it?"  
Harry nodded "I've been meaning to learn how to skate for the longest time now, but uncle Vernon never let me. We can do that together." he said, kicking Ron.  
"I'd pay good money to see Ron on a board." grinned Jane "Well, not so much on it, as falling off of it, but still-"  
"Mind you, I've been flying a broom for years." said Ron, pouting. "I won't have any trouble standing on a piece of wood."  
"Flying a broom isn't hard though."  
"Hard enough for Hermione to not know how to do it-"  
"Hey!" said Hermione "I know how to fly a broom. I just don't like it very much. And don't be so sure of yourself Ronald. I bet you won't last two seconds."  
"As if you could."  
"Actually," she said proudly "I can. My father taught me a while back." Harry and Jane exchanged half surprised, half impressed looks, meanwhile Ron just crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared out of the window.   
When the Hogwarts Express finally pulled into King's Cross station, Jane excitedly goggled out of the window, hoping to see both Remus and Sirius standing there together, but all she saw were crowds of beaming mothers, waiting to finally see their first year babies again. "Sirius is still going to have to wait for the Daily Prophet to clear his name before he can just go out into the world like that." said Ron, noticing Jane's hopeful look and she backed away from the window. They heaved their heavy trunks off the racks and began stumbling towards the corridor.  
"So, I'll send you Hedwig." said Harry to Ron "Then we can meet up and go to Grimmauld Place together. Sirius said we can stop by anytime."   
While they waited in line to pass through the barriers, Oliver Wood came by to say his last goodbyes, and gave both Harry and Jane- much to her surprise- teary eyed hugs, before moving on to the rest of the Quidditch team. It felt like a big change to think that Oliver would actually be gone next term. Jane had really grown to like him, and he had made one hell of a Chaser out of her. When they arrived on platforms nine and ten, Hermione gave them quick goodbyes, before jumping to greet her parents and Harry followed Jane to where Remus was waiting with a warm smile.  
"Ah Harry," he said, with a pat on the shoulder "we're finished with your room, so whenever you decide to come by, we thought we could go to Diagon Alley get you some-"  
"Come on," Vernon Dursley pulled Harry aside "I haven't got all day, boy." he gave Jane and Remus a disapproving look and dragged Harry down the platform, before he could get another word out. "I see he's just as unpleasant as Petunia."  
"Worse." agreed Jane. She turned around to wave Ron and the rest of the Weasleys goodbye, and noticed Mrs Weasleys glaring at her. Jane huffed. It wasn't like she'd ever been too rude or gotten any of her sons in too much trouble. Really all Mrs Weasley knew about her, was that Fred and George had met her in detention, and she couldn't understand how that made her a bad influence, when her sons had been in exactly the same position. "So how's it all going? Is Sirius settling in nicely?"  
"We had a lot of work to do, fortunately. I think it's good he's been keeping busy..."  
"What's the place like?"  
"No doubt you'll like it. Loads of hiding spaces, got rid of a few Boggarts already, but you should probably ignore Walburga, she can really get on your nerves."  
"Who?"  
"There's a portrait of your grandmother in the entrance. Unpleasant woman, driving Sirius a bit mad... she's up there with a permanent sticking charm." he ran his hands through his hair "I'd love to just paint over her, she keeps insulting me, that hag-" he collected himself and continued speaking calmly "Anyways, it's been quite a challenge, but I got a nice compensation for the Lodge, the Ministry payed us something to make up for the troubles, you and Sirius were put through, even though it seems more like hush-money, so we won't tell anyone their Dementors tried to kill our thirteen year old daughter thrice. It's been a great help, getting most of the place in liveable condition. Most of it is just magic anyways."  
12 Grimmauld Place surely wasn't anything like Jane had expected it to be. The house lay right between two completely ordinary Muggle houses, only to reveal itself when somebody knew what they were looking for, it did so by showing the houses around it out of the way, which Jane found to be very impressive. For the house itself however, impressive was hardly the right word to use. With it's shabby facade, worn set of front steps leading up to a rather unpromising door, without a keyhole or even a handle, it reminded her more of a haunted house. Not that it bothered her. If anything, it was rather endearing, she could only imagine how much history lay behind those walls. And it wasn't like the Lodge, her and Remus used to live in was anything fancy either. To her it really came down to the people she lived with.  
"If you can help it, don't ever ring the doorbell." advised Remus, opening the door with his wand "It'll awaked the beast."  
"What beast?" she whispered, not wanting to wake it up just yet.  
"Your grandmother's portrait. You ring the doorbell and she'll start screaming about how filthy your blood is." he rolled his eyes at the memory and Jane snickered quietly. He led her into the house and through the long hallway, it's walls stripped from its original wallpaper, which led to a grand spiral-staircase. The entire house appeared to be smelling of fresh paint, and from somewhere upstairs, came the booming sound of loud rock music. "He found some of his old records. I've listened to Bohemian Rhapsody so many times over the past week, I'm genuinely beginning to dislike Queen as much as your beloved Take That."  
"I like maybe three songs of them." scoffed Jane "And you can't possibly hate Queen."  
"Just you wait. His Night at the Opera record has about a million cracks. It's not Mama just killed a man, it's m-m-m-a-ma-a-amma-a-just-ah-"  
Jane frowned "There's a record shop right next to the Leaky Cauldron... I've been meaning to get a summer job anyways, do you think he'd like a new record or does he have some weird attachment to the broken one?"  
Remus smiled warmly "I think he just really missed his music. Where did you want to work then?"  
"A place that'll actually take me" said Jane "There's a hotel right by the Big Ben, er- the hotel of the Rising Sun. It's wizard run. One of the Slytherin girls works there, in the kitchen. She's my age, so I figured I might have a shot."  
"Ah, I thought I heard your voices!" said Sirius, jumping down the staircase. He didn't look like Azkaban Sirius at all. Sure, he still looked rather skinny and sickly, but it was as if he'd aged backwards. There was a shimmer in his eyes, and his hair fell softly on his shoulders, fully returned to the natural Black shine, volume and curls. And instead of his rag of a prison overall and brown coat, he wore a grey t-shirt with paint all over it, a pair of casual, on him now baggy, jean pants, held up by a black belt, he had to punch additional holes into to actually grasp onto his starved figure. "Come on, come on Am- let's find you a room you like, shall we?" Madam Pomfrey had given him enough Euphoria Potion to drug an entire village, and he seemed to be making good use of it. Jane didn't dare to imagine, how bad his crash would be, once he came off the potion. Or maybe, the effect the Dementors had had on him would wear off by then.  
He showed her three different rooms, all shabby, with heavy, black curtains in front of the windows and dust collecting on every piece of furniture. "We figured you'd do best choosing it yourself, y'know?"  
Jane nodded "I liked the second one. It had by far the biggest window." and the least amount of snake decor, she thought to herself. "So, Black house was really serious about the whole Slytherin thing?"  
"A total pain in the ass." he agreed "I'll show you Regulus' room, nothing but emerald green banners, sheets and carpets, with as many Slytherin crests as possible. He was completely obsessive."  
"Who's Regulus?"  
"Well-" his nose twitched slightly "He was my brother, actually."  
"Was?"  
"Dead." he said darkly, before shaking it off and putting his smile back on "Let's see what we can do about that second room then, eh?" he moved his record player to that room instead and put on a Beatles record "Remus really loves Abbey Road. Did you know?"  
Jane nodded "He listens to it quite a lot." Sirius left every decision over the room to Jane and they began cleaning the walls of all the spiderwebs, before stripping the walls clean of the ugly dark wallpaper, revealing the stone wall of the window side, and dark wooden boards for the rest of the room. When they pulled the heavy black curtains off their rack and let them fall to the ground, they stirred up so much dust, they were uncontrollably sneezing for about ten minutes. It took them about four hours to paint the wood boards white, clean the floor and windows and move the heavy furniture in place. The entire time they were talking. he reminded Jane a lot of Fred, George and Lee, the only people who could ever hold a candle to how much she'd talk. Sirius was just like that, story after story, joke after joke, reference after reference, they were like two waterfalls, babbling on and on about their greatest pranks.  
As they spoke, Jane remembered what her father had told her after her first year, how she reminded him of two of his friends, and how one would be proud of how she turned out. And Sirius was indeed very proud. Fascinated by the Grindylow prank, delighted by their final big one with the swelling solution, and laughing about all the small ones they'd pulled over the years. After every story he said he liked Fred and George from the second they'd stepped foot into the hospital wing to look after Ron. Jane straightened her bedsheets once more, put her last books and snowglobes into her bookshelf and stowed her locked box with Cherry Bombs away in her desk. After her father had found her last stack of highly dangerous and illegal fireworks during the Chucky Boggart accident, she had to take higher safety measures to keep the explosives secret, and that box, sealed by a riddle, was her best bet.   
Sirius helped her hang some fairy-lights above her bed and screwed a few hooks into the ceiling for her plants, and then they were done. Her room looked completely misplaced in the dark house, and she was very happy with how it turned out. Sirius shook his head "If my mother could see this she'd be disgusted. I love it. Come on, I've got something else to show you." he led her down to the first floor, into a large room with a fireplace, a- and Jane couldn't believer her eyes- grand piano, beautiful, glass-front cabinets, a heavy desk and some rather dirty sofas. Sirius walked towards the windows and pulled back the curtains. Jane dodged a group of doxies emerging from the curtains before flying out into the hall. "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black." scoffed Sirius, wandering over to the wall on Jane's left. The entire wall was covered with a stunning tapestry, depicting a tree with long branches, out of which the faces of countless wizards blossomed, the occasional burn-hole between them. "Lovely, isn't it?" said Sirius with a wry face.   
"I mean from an artistic point of view," said Jane "it's not too bad. It's the obnoxious amount of assholes that worries me." She pointed at Bellatrix Lestrange "She's a bit insane, isn't she."  
He frowned with disgust and nodded "Completely deranged."  
"So, I take it someone really hated your guts?" she asked, looking at his own name, his face burnt out of the tapestry.  
"My mother."   
"Oh-"   
"Did this after I ran away- well, I say after... didn't even make it out of the house when my face was already burnt out. Charming, really. I hated the lot."  
"Y'know-" said Jane quietly "Really all you'd need would be some leftover wallpaper and some paint and it wouldn't be too much work, painting you back on thee."  
He smirked "That's precisely why I wanted to show you. Remus told me you were quite the artist. Change it up a bit, actually do whatever you'd like with it." from a box, he dropped a large pile of photographs on the desk "If you're up for it."   
Jane was more than up for it. Painting was one of the things she could focus on for hours, if not days, without getting distracted and she loved it for that reason. The pictures Sirius had left on the table were everything Jane could've ever asked for, and more. There were the Marauders, back at Hogwarts, James and Lily, Remus and Sirius, at times in the company of Jane's mother, there were pictures of baby Harry and Jane playing with a toy broom or beating each other with it.   
After ridding the wall of all the spiderwebs, she began plastering bits of wallpaper over the burnt spots and filled in the branches, until the spots blended seamlessly with the rest of the wall. She filled in the face of Andromeda Tonks first. Sirius said she was his only cousin he actually liked, and added an additional branch for Andromeda's child, though leaving it blank for now. She had no idea who that child was, or what it looked like. Then it came to the tricky part. In one of the blank spots, close to Sirius' name, she added James, Lily and Harry, connected Harry to her own name, which she drew back up to Sirius, Remus and Hazel. The most time she spent on all of their portrait and later on replacing the shabby green background with a soothing blue one. She added blossoms to all of the branches, and recoloured the entire thing, until the wall looked like a giant version of Vincent Van Gogh's 'Almond Blossom'.  
She had spent two entire days, focused on nothing but the wall, and when she was finally done, she realized that Remus had worked wonders with the rest of the drawing room. Through the large windows he'd spent an eternity cleaning, fell warm sunlight on the sofas he had turned from an ugly brassy colour to the same blue of the wall Jane had painted. "Bloody hell." said Sirius "Brilliant- absolutely fantastic." a grin, Jane was only too familiar with, appeared on his face. She knew that look from Fred and George, whenever they had an idea that definitely involved breaking the rules. "You deserve a break. Why don't you get a pair of keys an we'll go outside for a while?"  
Her eyes went wide "You don't mean-"  
"Oh but I do." He didn't need to tell her twice. Within a second she had grabbed the keys from her nightstand's drawer and headed down to the door. They walked a few bocks until they reached an empty road "Well, go ahead. And maybe don't tell Remmy about this." Jane just nodded and pressed the button on the key. For a moment nothing happened but then a low rumbling sound broke the silence. The low rumble grew in volume until it was a loud roar, echoing down the entire road and a large motorbike with a sidecar shot from the sky, coming to smooth landing right next to them. "No need for this right now." muttered Sirius, and got on his knees to unscrew something on the side before pushing the sidecar off to the side of the road. "Hello my darling-" he said, almost through tears "Look at you, just as shiny and beautiful as the day I got you."   
Jane couldn't deny that it was by far the coolest thing she'd ever seen. Of course she didn't understand jack about motorbikes, she definitely had no idea how to actually ride one, but at least it looked good.  
"Well," said Sirius "Get on."  
"Huh?"  
"Come on, it's yours now. I'll show you how to tame the beast."  
"Huh?"  
"It's really simple, don't worry. And I'm right behind you."Well, she figured of all the ways to go, this was definitely better than accidentally choking on something or tripping and falling down a flight of stairs. The only problem was, she didn't even know how to mount the thing. She felt very stupid knowing she had an easier time flying a Hippogriff than a bike but Sirius didn't seem to mind. "You'll grow into it, no worries." and with that he lifted her up and helped her swing her leg over the seat before walking to the front of it. He pointed at one of the things on the left side of the handle "Right then, motorbike 101. This is the clutch, it engages and disengages the transmission and engine. When you squeeze the clutch lever, you're effectively putting the bike in neutral. When you let go, you're engaging the engine and transmission."  
Jane nodded, no idea what on earth he was talking about. But she figured it wasn't all that different from riding a broom. She'd learn by driving.  
He then pointed on the right side of the handle "Your right hand is crucial here. This-" he pointed at the thing that looked identical to the clutch thing "is the front brake. Always be gentle with that one. A motorbike is delicate and if you squeeze the brake too hard- well, might kill yourself in the process."  
"Ah-"  
"And this is the throttle. You twist it down, towards yourself for acceleration. Also, gently, it's just as delicate, and a little move goes a long way." he walked over to her left side, and moved her foot until it hit yet another lever "This is where you shift gears. You pull the clutch and move the lever up and down to shift." he walked around the bike to her right side and placed her right foot on the lever on that side "That's the rear brake. My advice for braking is to always ease in with that one first and then slowly apply the front one."  
Jane nodded and tried to make sense of everything he'd just said. Right hand speed and brake, right leg also brake, left hand clutch and shifting... she wondered what exactly a gear was. "So... you- you want me to drive it?" she asked nervously.  
He nodded and swung on the back of the bike "Right then, stick in the key, then you flip this switch, the kill switch, down, otherwise it won't start." Jane did what he'd told her so far "Perfect, now you pull the clutch, to put the bike in neutral. Once it's in neutral, a green light is going to light up next to the N on the gauges." Jane pulled the lever and waited for the N to light up. "Perfect. Now press the power button-"  
"Not to ruin this or anything, but there's a good chance I'll kill the both of us right now." said Jane, pressing the button.  
"Rubbish." said Sirius as the bike began making noises "To get this baby heated, give the throttle a slight twist-" a loud roaring sound came from the bike "now, you kick up the kickstand with your left foot, pull the clutch, kick down the shifting lever to shift into first gear, slowly release the clutch, twist the throttle and it's easy going."  
"Kick, pull, kick, release, twist-" muttered Jane to herself, suddenly painfully aware of their lack of helmets or even jackets, and did how he'd told her. She felt frozen solid, when the bike began rolling forward, but Sirius behind her was keeping a steady grip on the handle.  
"You can go a little faster." said Sirius "We're going steady. When you reach maximum speed for the first gear, you can pull the clutch again, put your left foot under the shift peg and bump it up. One bump, one gear. There's six gears in total, we're in first. And if you want to shift to a lover gear, you pull the clutch and push down on the peg, like you did to go from neutral to first."  
"Right." said Jane. It really wasn't half as bad as she'd expected. She had no idea if she'd survive doing it alone, but with Sirius it wasn't much of a problem. She twisted the throttle thing carefully to gain speed, and then followed his instructions to shift gears, which apparently just made the bike faster.  
"Alright, try braking now." said Sirius "Remember-"  
"Rear brake first, then front brake, and not too hard, or we might die."  
"Exactly." She did exactly that, softly hitting the brakes until they came to an almost smooth halt. "Now this is where the fun part comes in." said Sirius and pointed at the third switch, next to the kill switch and the power button. They hadn't used that one yet. "Start driving again, go up to fourth gear and then flip that switch down as well." he said and Jane did as he told her. As soon as she flipped the switch, the bike left the ground and began hovering over it. "This works exactly like a broom. Pull the handle up to rise, down to sink."  
As soon as they were up high enough in the air, all the fear left Jane. Flying was like second nature for most witches. And all the way up in the sky she wasn't afraid of crashing or tipping over and losing an arm. She shifted all the way into sixth gear and shot through the sky at a speed that would have given the Firebolt a run for its money. "Fantastic!" yelled Sirius "Absolutely fantastic, would you look at that, you're a natural!"  
They flew a few laps over Islington before heading back down to the ground, landing softly and coming to a halt right where they'd left off. "I think that's the most amazing thing I've ever done." said Jane, the adrenaline still rushing through her arms and legs.  
"And just you wait till you're really used to it. Harry told you about that time the muggle cops were chasing James and me, didn't he?"  
"He did."  
"Once you really know how to steer this thing, you can really do anything." he helped Jane off the bike and then moved the sidecar back to its side. "This was a lot easier when I had a wand." he muttered as he began twisting something.   
"Can't you get a new one?"  
"Not yet. I still have to wait for the Daily Prophet to fix this whole mess. If I went to Ollivanders right now they'd probably stone me alive." he finished tightening the last screw and looked at Jane "Wanna drive us home?"


	18. S U M M E R   9 4

They parked the bike right outside of the house and went back inside to hear excited chatter coming from the kitchen. So far Jane had been able to avoid Walburga's Portrait, but now her striking grey eyes fell right on her "HALF BREED FILTH!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.  
"Yes mother." snarled Sirius "That's my filthy half-breed daughter. Wanna hear something really disgusting though? Her mother was muggleborn." he sounded like a teenage boy, trying his hardest to get her to explode and it was working. Walburga kept firing insults at Jane who simply pulled the curtains back in front of the curtain and went into the dining-room, where Remus, Harry and Ron were sitting and playing a game of exploding snap.  
"Harry!" said Jane happily, greeting him with a hug "Didn't expect you this soon. Everything alright with the Dursleys?"  
He nodded "Well, the usual. But I finally wanted to have a real summer." he looked past Jane and smiled "Sirius! Good to see you." and went on to hug his godfather while Jane greeted Ron. Remus eyed her with suspicion the entire time, and she tried to flatten her hair.  
"Anyways," said Ron "we come with news." he dropped the Daily Prophet on the table "Sirius, according to the Daily Prophet, you're a saint. You're name hasn't just been cleared, there's like fifty paragraphs going on about how unjust the wold has been for you and all that. It's really more pitiful than informative, but I suppose you should have it easy to go to Diagon Alley now. Even though people might be as annoying as they are whenever they see Harry."  
Remus nodded eagerly "That means we can go hit up Diagon Alley tomorrow and get a new wand. Jane you could go down to the hotel then, see if they'll take you."  
They went on to have a fantastic day. Hermione came by about two hours later and together, the children went to explore the neighbourhood a little further. A few streets down, they found a park with a large lake. Skipping a few stones, Jane told them everything about riding the motorbike for the first time and while Hermione frowned at that with great dismay, Harry insisted she'd take her on a ride at least once, if not every single day. The Grangers picked Hermione up after dinner, but Harry and Ron decided to stay over night, and Sirius proudly showed Harry his bedroom. It was Sirius' old bedroom and he'd kept some of his old Gryffindor decorations up, though he told Harry, he was free to do whatever he wanted with it. The two of them seemed to get along better and better with every passing second, and Harry offered his help with some of the rooms that were still dark, shabby and invested with all sorts of Boggarts, doxies and other annoying beasts.  
Ron, Harry and Jane all sat down on Harry's bed where Ron unloaded a large bag of candy and they played a few games and read comics until about one o'clock, when they all passed out, Ron with his head on Jane's stomach and Harry with his head on Ron's. After breakfast, Sirius handed out small wooden chips, with the Black family crest carved into them. "You need those to Floo powder in, otherwise the grate will seal itself and you'll be stuck in the system." Ron went pale and buried the chip deep in his pocket. One by one they took the fireplace to the Leaky Cauldron, where Jane parted from the group to go to the hotel.  
She couldn't remember having ever been to London- muggle London- ever before. It took her a while to navigate herself through the streets, but eventually she found her way down to the large clocktower and looked for the hotel on the other side of the street, however unsuccessfully, at least until she ran into a familiar face. "Ah, Jane Lupin." said Adrian Pucey with his usual posh accent and charming smile "Or is it Black now? Looking for something specific?"  
"It's Lupin." she said dryly "Just a hotel."  
"Well, you're in luck. I happen to know where it is. I might even be willing to help you."  
Jane rolled her eyes "Suppose you want something in return?"  
He shrugged "As a matter of fact, I do. I'm not a prick of course, I'll tell you either way, but a boy can try."  
"What do you want Pucey?"  
"Well, I was thinking we might hang out some time."  
"And why would you want that?"  
"Cuz I think you're pretty, and I'd like to go out with you some time." he said casually.  
Within a second, Jane felt all he blood shoot into her face and she tried to keep her cool "Not going to happen."  
"Oh well-" he took a small piece of paper from the briefcase he was carrying and with a pen he scribbled something on it "If you ever change your mind, send me an owl." he handed her the note, with his address on it.  
"Not going to happen." said Jane, but she absently put the parchment into he pocket.  
"You never know."  
"I do know. Anyways, you said you'd help me either way."  
"Of course." he nodded and took a few steps backwards to open a heavy golden door, which Jane could've sworn wasn't there a second ago "Hotel of the Rising Sun." he announced "Only to be found by those who already know where it is."  
"And how do you know where it is then?"   
"Came by to drop a few of my fourth year notes off for Haven so she can study a bit more. What do you want here anyways?"  
"None of your beeswax, Pucey." said Jane and pushed past him.  
"I'll see you then."  
"Probably accidentally at Hogwarts."  
"Or Diagon Alley." he smirked and Jane turned on the heel to enter the hotel's lobby. A grim looking witch sat behind the counter, smoking a long cigarette and glaring at Jane with her pig-like eyes.  
"What do you want?" she asked with a deep, husky voice.  
"Er-" Jane tried to stand up straight and brushed a bit of soot off her shoulder "I was wondering if maybe you had some open positions? For a summer-job, I mean. I heard a girl from school mention she worked here, she's my age... anyways, I am a very hard worker-"  
"Y'know Haven?"  
"Well, know-" said Jane "Seen her around a few times-"  
"WILDERWALD!" hollered the woman and seconds later the girl came rushing down the stairs.  
"What now, Agatha-" she glared at Jane with her pale eyes "Why's there a Gryffindor in the lobby?"  
"Wants a job." sneered the woman "D'you need help or should I send her away?"  
Haven wandered over to Jane and inspected her closely, with her typical bored and yet vicious expression, and the long scar stretching from her forehead down to her chin and over her nose, glowing red "What do you need a job for? Aren't you now a member of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?" she mocked.  
Jane shook her head "Lupin. I just wanted to-"  
"Don't care." said Haven "You're in luck, there's blood all over room four hundred and nine, and I need help getting the stains out. Besides, I rather liked professor Lupin. What a shame he's gone now." she looked over to the witch behind the counter "I'll take her for the summer."  
"Er- thanks." said Jane but Haven ignored her completely.  
"So, rules are simple, you mess up three times, you're out. You mention to anyone that I work here, I'll kill you. You show this place to anyone, I'll kill you. Got it?"  
"Why don't you-"  
"Also, I don't owe you any fucking explanation, and if you keep asking questions that aren't entirely work related, I'll throw you out so fast you won't even be able to say Quidditch."   
"Oh, ok." Jane couldn't think of a single person outside of a few Slytherins who liked Haven. She had four close friends she seemed to do everything with and could sometimes be seen hanging around Adrian Pucey and Slytherin's last Seeker, Terence Higgs. All anybody really knew about her, was that she seemed to spend every second day in the hospital wing, with a new injury after one of her experiments once again backfired, and that she seemed to have serious anger issues. She was also incredibly smart, as far as Jane knew. She quietly followed Haven up to the fourth floor, where she let her into a room with blood spattered all over the walls, floor and bed "What happened here?"  
"Never heard of discretion, have you?"  
"It's just- a lot of blood."  
"Nobody died here if that's your issue. Here, take a mop and some bleach and do what you're supposed to do." she threw a mop at Jane and went to pull the sheets off the bed "How the fuck did you find the hotel anyways?"  
"Er- Adrian Pucey sho-"  
"Of course he did, that spineless twat."  
"Aren't you friends with him?"  
"So?"  
Jane shut her mouth and went to clean the walls instead. She wondered how Haven even managed to make six friends with an attitude like that but she figured being utterly dislikeable was simply a Slytherin trait. By the time they'd finished with the bloody room and mopped the hallways, it was evening and the grumpy witch, Agatha handed her a work schedule for the next two months. "Right then," said Haven, who'd led Jane into a room with nothing but a fireplace and handed her another of those wooden chips, with a sun rising over the horizon carved into it "you can Floo powder into the hotel when you have this with you, otherwise you'll be locked out and stuck in the system."  
"Right." said Jane and took the fireplace back to Grimmauld Place.  
"Would you look at that!" cheered Remus, who stood on a ladder, held by Ron and pulling new curtains onto the rack "First job, how does it feel?"  
"Brilliant." muttered Jane "I'm pretty sure they had me clean a crime-scene, but otherwise it was a very fun experience. Where are Sirius and Harry?"  
Remus smiled fondly "They're painting one of the master-bedrooms, just follow the noise."   
As soon as she opened the door of the drawing room, she could see what noise he'd been talking about. Loud music rang through the hallways, though it didn't appear to be one of Sirius' old records. Instead they were listening to a Guns n' Roses album that had come out when he was in Azkaban. Loud laughter echoed down the stairs accompanied by the occasional sound of a loud crash, followed by more laughter.  
Jane leaned against the door frame and watched the two of them. They were both covered in white paint even though they must've completely abandoned painting, half of the wall was still a patchy mix of grey and ugly wallpaper. Instead Harry threw a glass into the air and Sirius break and fix it in the air and then pass it back to Harry, all by the use of his new wand.  
"It's exactly like that time we went over to the Potters to help them prepare Harry's nursery." said Remus quietly, leaning into the frame as well "A Black and a Potter, there's not a single combination more incapable of finishing a task. It's nice to see them get along though, isn't it."  
Jane nodded "They seem really happy."  
"Hope it lasts." said Remus. They both knew that Sirius was beginning to run out of Euphoria potion, and were anxious to see, how he'd cope once it was completely gone.  
"Where's Ron?"  
"Went back home for a while. But I think he'll be back in a moment."  
Indeed he was. Mrs Weasley had sent him back with dinner invitations, and the four of them followed him back into the Burrow. Harry had often told Jane about the Burrow, and how nice it was there, and she could see what he meant. It was a very cozy home with colourful furniture, a beautiful garden and buzzing with noise. Jane barely managed to greet Mr and Mrs Weasley when Fred and George dragged her along to their room.  
"May we introduce to you-" said Fred and held out a box with toffees "Tongue Ton Toffee."  
"No way!" said Jane, they'd been working on this idea for ages "You finished it?"  
They nodded proudly "Should be done." said George.  
"Haven't tested it yet, though."  
"Mum's been on our heels because we didn't get as many O.W.L.s as she expected."  
"On our heals-" Fred scoffed "She's been a harpy the last days. She's furious."  
"In a frenzy."  
"Raving mad."  
"Man, who cares about the stupid O.W.L.s?" said Jane "We'll be richer than anyone in the ministry when we start selling this year."  
"That's what we've been telling her."  
"No need for good marks, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is going to kick off this year. We've got enough orders already, and they keep coming in, here have a look." George passed her sheets of orders for all sorts of inventions. She was especially proud to see that her invention, the Vicious Valentine had a high demand.  
"We've been thinking of sneaking some to Percy but think mum might actually kick us out of the house if anything happened to him."  
"Big deal." said Fred with a grin "Lupin's living in some sort of mansion now, we'll just crash there."  
"It's not a mansion." said Jane swiftly. "And I agree with your mother, maybe you shouldn't go around poisoning your own brother. Not now that the rat's working of the Ministry, anyways."  
"Blimey, I was worried for a second, but I see you're still a highly rational person. No, maybe we shouldn't poison a Ministry man."  
"Try it on Malfoy, when we're back at school. I'd be happy to watch him choke on his tongue."  
"Might do that." agreed George "But tell us, how is it, living with Black?"  
"He's brilliant, lot of fun, really. He taught me how to ride his flying motorbike, yesterday."  
"Wicked." said both of them at the same time.  
"Imagine if Ron wouldn't have crashed dad's car, we could do car races in the sky." said Fred.  
"You wouldn't have had a shot against the Triumph anyways. Bloody fast, think it might go faster than the Firebolt."  
"We should introduce it to Quidditch, replace our Cleansweeps." said George.  
"Mum says Dinner's ready." said Ginny, sticking her head into the room and the twins quickly hid the orders in a drawer.  
"Be right down, Gin."  
Mrs Weasley had cooked up a wonderful rich dinner, consisting of delicious Yorkshire Stew and pudding was fruit jelly trifle. The adults also shared a bottle of turnip wine and Mr Weasley kept bombarding Sirius with questions about everything that had been going on with Peter Pettigrew. Once they all finished, Harry, Jane and Ron distracted Mrs Weasley while helping her clean the kitchen, and Fred and George snuck two bottles of turnip wine into Ron's room, where they all met up, once the dishes were done.  
"Wonderful execution as always." said Fred, pulling an imaginary hat.  
"So, tell us Mr Potter," said George, pulling the cork of the first bottle "will you be a permanent resident at 12 Grimmauld Place?"  
"Can't." sighed Harry "I've been talking with Sirius, he had a long chat with Dumbledore... he's keeping an eye out so I won't be spending too much time away from the Dursleys."  
"Brutal." said Fred "Why's Dumbledore so obsessed with it anyways?"  
"To keep him safe and what not." said Ron.  
He turned out to be a bit of a lightweight, and after a few rounds of Never Have I Ever, he was nothing more than a babbling mess, and they quickly put him to bed, before any of the adults downstairs got wind of it. They began targeting each other afterwards by asking incredibly specific questions, Harry and Jane against Fred and George.  
"Never have I ever broken my arm during a game of Quidditch." said George "Scarhead, wolfkid, drink."  
"Never have I ever tried to send anyone a toilet seat." said Harry.  
"Never have I ever built an incredibly unhealthy, co-dependant relationship to someone to the point I started calling them my sibling even though they weren't." said Fred.  
"Never have I ever given another Quidditch team the opportunity to score a hundred and ten points through penalties because I kept trying to smash the other team's heads in with my Beater's club." said Jane.  
Eventually it was time for Harry and Jane to go back to Grimmauld Place, where they kicked off their shoes, stumbled onto the sofas and fell asleep immediately.   
The next few days were rather repetitive, Harry went back to the Dursleys and Jane spent the days scrubbing floors at the hotel. Whenever her and Haven were even paired with each other, they didn't speak much, though Haven made it very clear that she disliked Jane and had a strong hatred for Harry, which in return made Jane really dislike her. One evening, she found herself especially bored and decided to do something, that made her deeply question her sanity. With her quill she scribbled a short note onto a piece of parchment.  
Pucey,  
If you still want to hang out, I'm free-  
like all the time, actually.  
Anyways, send an owl, or don't, I don't care.  
Jane Lupin.   
She sent her father's owl to the address, he'd given her and went to sleep. As soon as she woke up, she found a note left on her desk.  
Told you you'd change your mind.  
I'll pick you up today after your shift then.  
Adrian   
She rolled her eyes at his usual arrogance, seemingly another recurring trait in Slytherins. "Can't believe you actually said yes to going out with Pucey." snarled Haven "Aren't you practically married to Potter by now?"  
"I'm not going out with anyone, and Harry is my friend. What happened to minding our business?"  
"Doesn't count when you're getting your hands all over one of my friends."  
"Honestly Wilderwald, you've got serious issues. I said like a million times, I just agreed to hang out."  
"Right." said Haven, looking Jane up and down "And you're gonna go dressed like that?"  
"What's wrong now?"  
She shrugged her shoulders "Nothing. Same pants, same shirt, same jacket as literally every day. Original."  
"Literally mind your business." said Jane and angrily fluffed a pillow. Haven always dressed like royalty, with elegant shirts and trousers without holes in them, meanwhile Jane was still getting her clothes at second hand stores and usually had to aske her father to remove some old food stains from the shirts she bought. "Sorry it doesn't fit your Slytherin standards, I'm not going to walk around like one of you fancy pricks just to meet someone who annoys me."  
"Suit yourself. I mean, if it weren't for your hair, most people would mistake you for a boy, but I see that doesn't bother you. Pillow might be dead though."  
Jane let go of the pillow she'd been strangling and fluffed it again "Not that it's any of your business but I can't afford anything else."  
Haven groaned loudly and threw the wipes and cleaning products back on the cart "Fucking come along. Can't believe I'm doing this."  
"What?"  
Haven just stomped down the stairs to the lobby "Agatha, we'll be taking a break. Can you give Lupin her pay for today?"  
"What?" said Jane again "That's not how it works-"   
"Muggle or normal?" said Agatha.  
"Muggle." said Haven and dragged Jane out of the store, though something fairly odd happened as she was doing so. Her long hair suddenly shortened itself until it barely reached her shoulders and turned copper. She shrunk a little and turned around to look at Jane with suddenly brown eyes "No word about this to anyone or I will skin you alive."  
"Wha- you're a metamorphmagus?"  
"Will you shut the fuck up? Just don't mention it."  
"But why-"  
"I'll beat you up, shut it already." she dragged Jane along to a pedestrian zone and entered one of the stores. There were multiple groups of girls running through the store, giggling to each other as they held dresses and racy tops in front of their bodies. Jane had always wanted to go on a shopping spree like that however she imagined herself going with Hermione, Lavender and Parvati and not the mean Slytherin girl. "This one's cute." said Haven "You've got a face for yellow."  
"I do?" Jane looked at the yellow top, Haven was handing her, it had small daisies printed all over it. It wasn't baggy at all, instead it seemed a little too short. "Y'know, at the speed you're going I feel like you're already planning mine and Pucey's wedding. I told you-"  
"Shut it already. Face it, it's a date and the way you act, I guess it's your first one as well. That's special, doesn't mean you have to marry him."  
"Doesn't explain why you care."   
"I don't. But my friends are all on vacation and I miss girl time. So just act like one for once and tell me what you think about this." she held up a light-blue cotton dress, with ribbon straps.  
"Would look really good on you." Jane decided to go along "I mean real you, anyways. So- have you ever gone out with a boy before?"  
Haven tilted her head "Yeah, couple of times."  
Jane figured that maybe, Haven wasn't half bad. She was actually rather interesting, and they had a couple of shared interests, such as Quidditch, muggle music, movies and comics, although she also really loved reading, what Jane with her inability to sit still, really couldn't relate to. She ended up buying a pair of jean overalls and one of the yellow shirts Haven had been throwing in her face, insisting it was her colour. Haven herself didn't seem to have a colour. She looked like a character from an 80s sitcom, either with a bright, oversized and patterned shirt, or a black one and always stuffed into her high-waisted mom jeans. And he always managed to look incredibly elegant, tipping it all off with some golden jewellery and a black ring in the form of a live serpent.  
Once Jane was finished with her shift, she tried the new clothes on and stared at herself in the mirror. Haven had sort of hit a nerve when she said it was hard to tell if she was a girl or a boy. Especially living in Grimmauld Place, where she was constantly facing portraits of the Black family, she had noticed, that while they all had similar looks, rather good ones at that, the girls in the family were always very pretty and the boys were handsome. Even Bellatrix Lestrange, who's soul was so rotten and vile, had been a very beautiful woman, at least until she was locked up in Azkaban. Jane however would've never referred to herself as pretty, neither would most people who knew her. Instead she was just as handsome as Sirius, and it tended to bug her a little. But out of her usual baggy, shabby clothes, in something that had an actual shape, she felt rather girly, and she couldn't help but smile a little.


	19. A   F L I N G

"Well hello there Miss Not Going To Happen." said Adrian, holding the door open for Jane, and she quickly slipped past him "How come you changed your mind?"  
"Potter's stuck at his aunt and uncle's. It was getting repetitive."  
"Ah, I see, you were in desperate need of entertainment." Jane already regretted sending him an owl, as he strode past her with a smug smile and such elegance, it almost looked like he was floating. She tried to straighten her back herself, but felt like she was still slouching. "Lucky for you, I can be incredibly entertaining."  
"Yes, bet you are. You seem to be more interested in entertaining during a Quidditch match than actually scoring."  
He smirked "Didn't you send both your Beaters after me because I kept kicking your ass?"  
"You were getting in my way, not actually doing anything to get the Quaffle past Oliver though."  
"Well, that's what we've got Nia for. Just like Gryffindor's got you. I have to admit, when I saw you play Ravenclaw- well, it was rather enchanting."  
Jane rolled her eyes "My mission in life. To enchant Slytherins."  
"Don't like us very much, do you?"  
"Nobody in their right mind would. Malfoy's the perfect example for a human punching bag."  
"Trust me, I know what you mean. I hate that slimey git."  
Jane raised her eyebrows "You do?"  
"Of course. Do you remember my best mate Terence Higgs? He was our Seeker before Malfoy went and bought his way in with his stupid broomsticks. Brilliant one at that, won us the Quidditch Cup. I won't say that he's as good as Potter, but he was close. Diggory and Chang wouldn't be any match for him." he shook his head "Just because Malfoy's got his loyal following of idiots who can't think for themselves, doesn't mean that any of us have to like him."  
Jane stood perplexed to say he least. Naturally she had assumed everybody in Slytherin house was fond of Malfoy. "Alright, so you don't like the git. You lot are still a bunch of blood obsessed-"  
He laughed loudly "Higgs is a halfblood, did you know? So are many of us. Personally, I really like muggles- well not muggles themselves, but they've got wicked movies and music, don't you think?"  
Jane's nose began twitching furiously "What, you like movies? Muggle movies?"  
"Love them." he nodded "Have you ever seen Ghostbusters? We had a Halloween party last year, me and my mates dressed up like them. I was Spengler, obviously."  
"Obviously." said Jane quietly.  
"What sort of movies do you like best?"  
"Dunno, I really like horror movies, though one time, I had a Boggart in my bedroom and I was screaming like a Banshee when Chucky from Child's Play was crawling at me with a knife."  
"I think I would've kicked him. Did you?"  
Jane shook her head "No, my dad got rid of it... and then I was grounded for a while because I wasn't supposed to watch movies like that."  
"Honestly," said Adrian, opening the door to the Leaky Cauldron "I think your dad's bloody brilliant. Shame he quit, who knows what sort of Lockhart-like moron Dumbledore's gonna find for next year. Don't suppose any of us could ever become Aurors with such terrible Defence teachers."  
"Right? I mean where does he keep finding them? The fact that Voldemort living in the back of Quirrell's head wasn't even the worst part about him-"  
"Ah! I-is that m-my shadow?" quivered Adrian mockingly "Saw him faint at the sight of blood once. In a book."  
"I still can't belief that tosser made it past Fluffy without wetting himself."  
"Who's Fluffy?"  
"The three-headed dog, huge thing, tall like Hagrid's Hut, and a biter. He was guarding the entrance to where the stone was hidden."  
"How'd you make it past him?"  
"Quirrell left his enchanted harp playing in the corner. All it took for Fluffy to calm down and go to sleep was a bit of music. The stone really wasn't too well protected- except for the Devil's Snare and the keys and the chess game-" Jane shuddered at the memory of that. After that game that almost resulted in her losing her head, she decided it was time to learn how to properly play chess, in case she'd ever have to survive without Ron.  
"Ah yes- the stupid chess game. Best game of chess in a long time." he huffed "Bloody Dumbledore."  
"I don't like him either." sighed Jane "He's a prick."  
"Massive prick." agreed Adrian "He can be alright, but he's really got it out for us Slytherins. Sorta rubbish, considering we're literally just students."  
"I'm sorry, but that house cup ceremony was hilarious. Malfoy's face- just wonderful."  
"Yes, well go figure, being humiliated in front of the entire school by the headmaster didn't feel too good for the lot of us, who tried really hard all year. Either way, you guys fought the Dark Lord, so you deserved it, I suppose."  
"Say, do you know why Wilderwald hates Harry so much? Is it because of the house cup thing as well?"  
Adrian shook his head "No, I usually stay out of it... all I know is that a friend of hers died two years ago, and she says it's got to do with Potter. Haven's been through a lot of shit though. I prefer to not ask too many questions. She's much more pleasant that way."  
"How'd she get the scar?"  
Adrian raised his eyebrows "What, you don't know? Have you never heard of the Bloody Baron's wall?"  
As a matter of fact, she had. The wall would've been a completely regular one, at the end of a regular fourth floor corridor, the only exception was a large blood stain in the wall, that even Filch couldn't get out. "What's it got to do with her?"  
"That's her blood on the wall. Her and her little friends call themselves the Bloody Barons, because even Peeves couldn't top their antics. We sorta named the wall after her when we thought she might die."  
"Ah-" said Jane and wondered what exactly could've led to her face kissing the wall.  
"So," he sounded a lot more curious "is it actually true that Sirius Black is your real father? I mean I've heard the rumours but-"  
"I mean, technically yeah."  
"Is he really innocent though? Or-"  
"Of course he is." barked Jane "People aren't questioning it, are they?"  
"I mean, most believe it of course, but suppose there's a few people who don't quite believe it. With the Ministry claiming Peter Pettigrew escaped before they locked him up for good and there being no sustainable evidence."  
"It's true. I was there. Had to get him into the castle while the Dementors were having a field day trying to kill us."  
"D'you know how Black escaped Azkaban? I mean that must've been really incredible."  
"No." lied Jane "He won't tell me."  
"What a shame. I bet it would make for an interesting story."  
Jane glared at him, hearing him talk about Sirius who went through twelve years of agony like he was some sort of news sensation made her cringe. "He's a real person, you do realize that, right?"  
"Yeah, obviously. He's still the only person who ever pulled off on escape from Azkaban. I mean he has to be a bloody genius, right? When I thought he was a murderer and heard he was rummaging around the castle, I was terrified, of course, but now, honestly, I admire him." he grinned quickly "I sound like a fucking suck-up."  
"Kinda." said Jane, smiling a little "But you're right. He's brilliant. So what does your family do?"  
"Dad works at Gringotts, mum's in the Ministry." he shrugged "Nothing special, really. But my dad used to play for Tutshill Tornados for three years. He was a Chaser then, taught me all I know."  
"Which doesn't prove to be a lot." she teased.  
Saying the afternoon took a surprising turn would've been a large understatement. By the time the sun began to set, Jane found herself laughing at all of Adrian's jokes, as he led her through muggle London, her hand in his. "I've got to show you the record shop." he said "Not the one next to the Cauldron though, there's this really big one, they've got absolutely everything. What type of music do you like?"  
"All sorts, really. Queen, Bowie, T-Rex, The Beatles, Harry got me really into Guns n' Roses, I think that's the hill he wants to die on, having successfully converted everyone into a Guns n' Roses fan."  
"Should I be concerned Elvis is not on the list?"  
"Dunno, he's very corny, I don't wanna be a lion 'cause lions ain't the kind you love enough- I mean give me a break already."  
"I have never been this shocked and disappointed." said Adrian, and searched through the records of the shop until he found what he'd been looking for "Luckily, I know exactly how to change your mind."  
"I doubt that."  
"I'm so sure of it, I'm willing to bet on it." he put the record on one of the players and handed Jane a pair of headphones "Go on, I love proving people wrong."  
"I can see that. You prove your mom's decision to have a child wrong every day of your existence." but she put on the headphones, and after three beats she said "No way!"  
The warden threw a party in the county jail  
The prison band was there and they began to wall  
"No way-" she repeated "But that's- that's from the Blues Brothers-"  
"Well, yes, they covered it. Original Elvis Presley. He's not the king for nothing." he moved the needle and another familiar sound came on.  
A little less conversation  
A little more action please  
All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me  
"That's by Elvis as well?"  
"Sure is. But personally I think, his corny songs are his best ones." he took another record and placed it on the player instead, and the sounds of a beautiful orchestra sounded from the headphones.  
When no one else can understand me  
When everything I do is wrong  
You give me hope and consolation  
"Well, it's decent." said Jane, though she found herself thoroughly enjoying the song. She pointed over to a record that caught her eye "That- that's much more like it."  
"Ah, damnit Janet." grinned Adrian "Of course you'd be a Rocky Horror girl."  
"Well, my father never let me see it, he says it's not appropriate... but I love the soundtrack."  
"No-" he gasped "You've never seen Rocky Horror? Might have to change that."  
"Yeah?" she grinned "Any particular idea?"  
He came a little closer to her and took both her hands "I don' suppose Never Going To Happen Lupin is asking me for a second date, is she?"  
"Maybe I was wrong about one thing or two." she said smoothly, though her heart was now racing in her chest.  
"Maybe you were." he said with a sultry voice, his breath brushing against her face and his right hand wandering up to cup her jaw and lift her chin up to him. The next second, she closed her eyes, when his lips met hers in a soft kiss. She felt a slight jolt in the region of her stomach, before it exploded into the feeling of butterflies and her knees went weak.  
Being with Adrian was one of the greatest feelings Jane ever experienced. He'd come to the hotel after her shifts, hold her hand as they went on long walks through London or to see a movie, and she couldn't complain about the snogging either. They did a lot of that, when he greeted her, when he wished her a good night, when she looked at him for longer than two seconds or whenever they'd been trying to focus on a movie for longer than a minute.  
The only problem was her very nosy roommate. Harry came to stay at Grimmauld Place a day before Jane's birthday, which spent with her family, he remained oblivious for a week, until his birthday, but the day after, when Jane was just getting ready for bed, Harry burst into her room with a knowing look on his face "You sly dog!"  
"What?"  
"I saw you- I saw you and Pucey snogging right under my window." he shuddered "Since when has this been going on?"  
"Can you quiet down?" she asked and quickly closed her door behind him "Are you trying to get me in trouble with my father?"  
"Honestly, since it's a Slytherin we're talking about, maybe."  
"Oh sod off Potter, Adrian's not like Malfoy-"  
"Adrian-" scoffed Harry.  
"Yeah, go figure I call my boyfriend by his first name."  
He gagged "Boyfriend? You're kidding right?"  
"Why do you care?"  
"Well-" he said wringing his hands "First you go making friends with the Slytherin Keeper, which, I mean it's okay because you work together and all, but now Pucey? I mean, first of all you're too young to have a boyfriend anyways, but if you have to get one, why not a Gryffindor? Christ, even a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff would be okay, but Slytherin?"  
"Since when do you get a say in my personal affairs? Honestly Harry, you don't even know him."  
"I don't aspire to, either." he huffed.  
"I didn't mean to introduce you anyways. I knew you'd be a bitch about it. Just don't tell dad or Sirius, get it?"  
He glared a little more "Honestly, I should. Maybe they can talk some sense into you. But fine-" he groaned "It's your funeral... speaking of funeral, we're meeting Ron and Hermione tomorrow, we'll come pick you up after work, so tell Adrian Pussy you can't swallow his tongue tomorrow." he opened the door and Jane quickly hurled a pillow at the back of his head.  
"Don't be vulgar."  
When the trio came to pick Jane up the next day, cluelessly waiting in front of the Big Ben, they brought a surprise. They'd been to a skate-shop before, where Harry had bought himself, Ron and Jane boards. Hermione had her own. Jane sort of expected Hermione to only touch a board if she was wearing a helmet and a complete armour, but instead stood in nothing but shorts, a red shirt, converse and a red scrunchie keeping her bushy hair out of her face. As the only one who actually knew how to skate, she rolled slowly next to them on their way to the park.  
"You sure you don't need my help?" said Harry to Ron, who was carefully putting his first foot on his board.  
"Of course." said Ron confidently "Hermione may be better than me in everything else, but this is sports. If she can do it, so can I." with that he kicked himself forward and fell flat on his face.  
"You were right." joked Harry, helping Ron on his feet "I've never seen Hermione even attempt to do that trick."  
"Shut up Harry." muttered Ron. It took a while for them to steadily stand on their boards, but eventually they managed to roll up and down the park without falling, and Harry and Jane began racing each other, while Hermione stayed back to show Ron how to do an Ollie.   
Of course it didn't take too long for Harry to drop the bomb, and he just had to tell Ron and Hermione about Adrian.  
Ron looked up with utter confusion "Wait, Jane's with Pucey? What about Fred?"  
Thrown of completely, Jane's foot got in front of the front wheel and she awkwardly stumbled off the board, and walked herself into a wall.  
"What about Fred?" asked Harry curiously.  
"Yeah, what about Fred?" said Jane, rubbing her elbow.  
"Well-" Ron turned pink "I thought you two because- because you snogged him and all that-"  
"You did?" cooed Hermione.  
"Yeah-" said Ron "George has been teasing him with it all summer."  
"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Hermione excitedly and Jane felt herself turn just as pink as Ron.  
"There's really nothing to tell." she said quietly, wishing to let it go.  
"Well but-" Hermione looked just as confused as Harry and Ron "I don't get it, I mean you liked him for three years and then what? I mean were you an item? Did you already break up? Did-"  
Jane shook her head "No, nothing like that. It was a Quidditch thing."  
"A Quidditch thing." said Harry "Should I have been snogging Wood all this time?"  
"I mean who am I to judge." snarled Jane "All I'm saying is, it meant nothing, I moved on, and now, can we please move on from this conversation and discuss things that actually matter? Like the Quidditch Cup coming up, for example? We can watch in on the telly, or go to the Leaky Cauldron, there's always a big happening during the match."  
"Might have something cooking up there." said Ron "We'll definitely watch it together, but dad's been acting secretive about it, we shouldn't set anything in stone yet."  
On the following Friday, when Adrian was walking Jane home, he had a wider grin on his face than usual "What d'you reckon you'll be doing at midnight?"  
"Sleeping most likely."  
"May I suggest something a little more interesting?" he reached into his back pocket and pulled out two tickets "Like the midnight presentation of Rocky Horror?"  
"No way!" she snatched one of the tickets and read it closely before coming to a gloomy realization "I wish I could but... dad would never let me go out that late."  
"Who says you have to tell him about it?" he smiled with the mischief she usually saw in Fred and George "You could sneak out. No doubt you've gotten really good at that during your time at Hogwarts."  
"If he found out..." she looked at the ticket again. She'd heard of the shows, people would go in full costume to watch Rocky Horror, some of them did it every single night and they'd speak along, sing along and it was always an entire event "Know what? Fuck it. Let's do it."  
"Perfect." he said happily "I'll pick you up at half past eleven then, don't get caught, yeah?"  
"I would never." she smiled and kissed him goodbye before rushing into the house. Harry, Sirius and Remus were all in the kitchen, preparing dinner, and Sirius quickly passed her four plates to begin setting the table with it.  
"Good day Am?" he asked.  
"The usual." said Jane "Though someone thought it was a good idea to bring a box of Chizpurfles into the hotel. Of course they escaped, and we spent about three hours trying to keep them from doing too much damage." she looked at the three of them "What have you been up to?"  
"Finished the attic today." said Remus, walking over to give her a quick kiss on the top of her head "We're almost done now- but reckon we'll take care of the dining room and kitchen when you kids are back at school."  
The dinner wasn't a very happy occasion, because after it, they once again had to walk Harry up to the drawing room, and say their goodbyes before he took the fireplace back to the Dursleys. It was always the hardest for Sirius, who really just wished to have Harry live with them permanently instead of having to send him back to the Dursleys ever so often. But Jane and Remus had gotten just as used to Harry being around, and whenever he left now, it always felt like the house was just a little too empty.  
She crawled up in her bed and waited for the sun to set, flicking through a few different books, pacing her room and quietly listening to music. Every minute seemed to be an hour long and she grew more and more restless, nervously tapping her finger as she watched the minute hand crawl slowly. Finally it became darker outside as the clock struck ten and she went to pretend to be asleep, in case her father was going to check up on her. He didn't and so she waited and waited and waited, wondering if Rocky Horror was worth the horror of having nothing to do for two more hours.  
Finally it was time for her to meet Adrian outside the house and she began sneaking down the dark hallways, only to stop by the drawing room, where Sirius and Remus where still sitting in the dim light of the fireplace. Jane would've just snuck past, but she was too surprised by what she saw. Well, in retrospect, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise at all, but she still couldn't help but grin like a child that had just been handed some free candy. Remus was sat on Sirius' lap, absently playing with his hair, while Sirius retold the story of how they first met.  
"I thought you were the most annoying snob, I've ever had the misfortune of meeting." said Remus, grinning. "You and James both."  
"Oh really? I couldn't tell by the way you completely avoided us and rolled your eyes at literally everything we said." his hand was slowly wandering up and down the outside of Remus' thigh. "Until you found out I had a bunch of records of course, you materialistic poof."  
"Come to think of it, your Abbey Road record is probably the only reason I'm talking to you, even to this day."  
"I knew it!" laughed Sirius, before leaning in to kiss Remus. It looked as if they'd done it a thousand times, but somehow, Remus looked just as surprised as Jane, who quickly put a hand in front of her mouth and kept sneaking down the stairs and the hallways until she stood outside the house. She really couldn't quite believe it. It was great of course, and suddenly she felt really stupid for not figuring it out the first time she'd brought Sirius up after he had just escaped last summer. Her fathers were in love... with each other. It really couldn't get much better than that. Except of course for the handsome boy now wrapping his arms around her and greeting her with a kiss.  
"Ready for the best night of your life?" said Adrian.  
"Aye." said Jane and they began strolling down the streets of London. In front of the theatre, there was already a long line waiting. If Jane didn't have any knowledge of muggles, at all, they might've as well been looking at a line of witches, waiting to go to a Weird Sisters concert, with their dramatic make-up, flashy and revealing clothes and loud attitudes.  
"Oh look, it's two babies!" yelled a clearly intoxicated man on ten inch, blood red platforms and wearing nothing but a black corset, fishnet tights and a red feather boa.  
"Ooooh!" went a group of women with their faces painted a ghostly white and black circles surrounding their eyes.   
"This has to be your first show." said the guy, shaking his head, putting the boa around Jane's neck and smearing some red lipstick in Adrian's face "You kid's know there's a lot of swearing and- stuff, right?"  
"Thanks for the warning." said Adrian genuinely, before moving Jane onto the back of the line "As if anything here could top Jordan's last Quidditch commentary."  
Actually, the Rocky Horror Picture Show came quite close to what they were used from Lee. Not so much the movie or the shadow cast, but the audience themselves.  
"Everyone knows that Betty is a wonderful little cook." said Brad.  
"Yes, and she's a great little fuck, too!" screamed the audience.  
"Yes." said Janet.  
"Why Ralph himself, he'll be up for a promotion in a year or two." said Brad.  
"If he doesn't get busted!" yelled the audience, and then "Janet, are you a slut?"  
"Yes." said Janet and Jane laughed.  
"Brad, what do you say when you want to fuck?"  
"Hey Janet."  
"Yes Brad?"  
"I've got something to say."  
"Then say it asshole!"  
The rules seemed mostly simple. Whenever Janet appeared or was introduced, the entire audience yelled 'Slut!' and whenever Brad appeared or was introduced they'd yell 'Asshole!' For the narrator they had a few different options. Sometimes they'd yell 'He's got no fucking neck!' or 'A chicken stepped on this man's forehead!' or 'Your mother should have fucked a giraffe!' and sometimes 'Wipe that ass off your chin!'   
They'd sing and dance along to the songs, throw confetti, rice and sponges and become progressively more drunk. The guy who played Brad had said at the beginning of the show, that the audience was supposed to do their drugs outside, but Adrian turned Jane to look at a group of younger adults who were smoking rather funny smelling cigarettes "We totally have to get high together before I graduate."  
"We do?"  
"Definitely. Professor Sprout is growing some really good stuff in the greenhouses."  
Jane almost choked "She is?"  
"Yeah, it's pretty cool. I mean I don't know if- Hefty lefty, lighty righty, better get a chisel! If it's for students, but we all get our stuff there."  
"Wicked."  
The movie was over way too soon, and Jane surely understood why most of the people went to see it at least once a week. Not to say she'd do the same, but once a month did seem realistic to her. She went to give the man his boa back but he told her to keep it, he had about a hundred, and then her and Adrian went on their walk back to 12 Grimmauld Place.  
"I really didn't expect Janet-"  
"Slut."  
"Shut up." Jane hit Adrian in the arm "I really didn't expect Janet-"  
"Slut." he grinned stupidly.  
"Janet to-"  
"Slut."  
"Pussy." she jumped on his back and held his mouth closed while he kept stumbling forward. "I really didn't expect Janet to- ow! Did you just bite me?"  
"Slu-" this time Jane got him to shut up by pressing her lips on his.  
"Oh, how nice." that wasn't Adrian's voice. They both spun around to see Remus stand outside of their house, his arms crossed in front of his chest "I suppose you had fun then?"  
"Oh shit." muttered Jane "Dad, you're still awake."  
"So are you." he said angrily "I wonder why?"  
"Oh, sir, Professor Lupin, sir-" stumbled Adrian "That was all my f-"  
"No doubt." said Sirius, walking out on the street as well and Jane watched Adrian shrink at least a foot.  
"So," said Remus "my fourteen year old daughter comes home at two in the morning, dressed like a Burlesque dancer, with her sixteen year old- what, boyfriend? I've never heard of, who of course has lipstick all over his face. There has to be an explanation for this other than you being grounded until-"  
"We went to see a movie." said Jane quietly "And the good show's only on at midnight... so I snuck out."  
"Ah yes, and why exactly did you, Mr Pucey, get her to sneak out in the middle of the night?"  
"He didn't." said Jane quickly "I told him you were okay with it. It's not his fault."  
"Is that so?" Remus came a little closer and Adrian tensed up even more "Can you confirm that?"  
Jane nodded wildly, hoping Adrian wouldn't be stupid, but he ignored it "No."  
"Adrian!"  
"I'm sorry, I can't lie to parents. Sir, Professor- sir, I knew that my parents would've never allowed me to go when I was fourteen so I told Jane to just sneak out because I really wanted to take her to see the show, before we went back to school."  
Jane groaned and slapped her forehead "Who doesn't know how to lie to parents? Honestly dad, it's not a big deal. We went to the cinema and then we came straight home-"  
"And in between you took time to smoke a spiff, I take it?"  
"No-" said Adrian "there was a group of older guys smoking in front of us-"  
"At a cinema?"  
"Well, yes- it was Ro-"  
"Don't say it." said Jane.  
"No, say it." said Remus.  
"The- the-" at this point Adrian's usually tan face was completely grey and Jane could see the sweat building on his face "Rocky Horror Picture Show." he whispered.  
"Ah-"   
"Shit." said Jane.  
"Yes." agreed Remus "Shit. Jane, you know you're too young to see that kind of movie. You know you're too young to go out in the middle of the night and you, Mr Pucey, know that as well. I wonder, do you know why I had to retire from my teaching position at Hogwarts?"  
Adrian closed his eyes, about ready to be ripped to shreds "B-because you're a-a werewolf, sir?"  
"Oh yes, that's quite right."  
"Dad-"  
"You know Mr Pucey... the thing about werewolves is, even though we only fully turn on a full moon, there's certain things, that never change. A heightened sense of hearing for example. I can hear your heat beating so fast right now, and then there's of course the taste for human flesh that never-"  
"Dad!" said Jane again "Adrian, he's messing with you, dad, be mad at me, not Adrian. He just wanted to do me a favour."  
"N-no- I'm r-really sorry, sir. It won't happen again, I p-promise."  
"Oh, I know it won't." said Remus darkly "I bet you've heard of my dear friend, Sirius Black?"  
"Dad."  
"Yes, sir." Adrian only looked up for a second "Mr Black- I was very g-glad to hear t-that they cleared your name-"  
"Maybe they shouldn't have." said Sirius, scratching the back of his head with his wand and Adrian shrunk even further "Maybe, it was all an act. An elaborate lie-"  
"It wasn't." said Jane "Adrian, ignore them, they're just trying to scare you."  
"Ah." said Adrian, his legs were shaking like the legs of a new-born deer.  
"Dad, ground me, take away everything that brings me joy, but stop messing with Adrian. I'll give up my secret stach of firecrackers, but let him be. We just went to see a movie. I couldn't even count all the illegal shit you did when you were my age if I used my hands and my feet, so let's just talk about this in private."  
"Nice, deflecting." said Remus.  
"I'm not deflecting dad, I'm just saying leave Adrian out of it. He's not your responsibility, I am, so let his parents deal with his shit, if they feel like it."  
"Alright." said Remus "You can go, Mr Pucey. But if I find out this happened more than once-"  
"It didn't sir-" he stumbled backwards, ready to run away "And it won't. I promise."  
"Well then- goodnight Mr Pucey."  
"Goodnight Professor, Mr Lupin, sir- and Mr Black, sir- goodnight." and with that he was gone and Jane didn't hear from him again.


	20. A F T E R M A T H

Jane was in trouble. Really deep trouble. And usually, she would've just sat through it, but this time her father and Sirius were in trouble as well, because this time, she was fuming. She hadn't heard a word from Adrian. Not a single one. No owls, no visit at the hotel, nothing. The only thing she heard of him was that he hung out with Haven a day to help her with Arithmancy, and Haven didn't stop bullying Jane about it.  
"Hey there... champ-" Sirius opened her door and knocked quietly.  
"What?"  
"Oh- I don't really know. Dad's on the TV keep saying that to their sons when they need to talk about something."  
"Well, I'm not your son, am I."  
"No... I actually don't know what they say to their daughters- they don't talk a lot I think- not the point. I think we should talk."  
Jane shrugged and pretended to keep reading, though she had long forgotten, what book it actually was, or what it was about.  
"Who was the boy?"  
"What, the one you scared away?"  
He sighed "Yeah... I mean, come on, someone who scares that easily... you think a Gryffindor would've let an angry dad stop him?"  
"What did you expect? He'd start climbing up my window and I'd get myself in even more trouble with dad? Adrian's too much of a goody two shoes for that."  
"See? Boring."  
"What do you want."  
"Ama-"  
"Not my name."  
"Oh, please don't make me call you Jane." he frowned "I mean, that's just... bad."  
"Your option is not addressing me at all. How about that?"  
"Fair... that's far. Okay kid- buddy- pal- son- no that one's worse er-" he began pacing "They really don't talk to the girls on the telly, do they... so listen, yeah? I'm sorry about the boy. He seemed like a nice one."  
"He was. Well- is."  
"It's just... you know- we were really worried. And when we saw you'd just snuck out, for a second we were really relieved and then really, bloody pissed." he picked up a snow globe and put it right back down. "I mean... you understand why we were worried, right?"  
Jane shrugged "All parents do is worry."  
"Yeah but- well, we sort of have a good reason, don't we? I mean Moony went to see if you were okay at about one in the morning, only to find you missing... I don't think there's anything scarier. The world has always been a dangerous place for girls. Usually we'd have to worry about you being abducted, attacked or much, much worse things- but this time our worries have a face and a name. I mean, what do you think would happen if Peter Pettigrew, who was completely safe with everyone thinking he was dead, would do if he suddenly saw you of all people, alone at night? We used to be best friends. We also thought, what if Peter knew where we were? Got you without us noticing? We were worried."  
And there it was again. The burning hot guilt. Of course they'd think something bad happened. Pettigrew was a wanted criminal thanks to all of them. He'd always loved biting her, Merlin knows what he would've done if he got his hands on her now. "Sorry." she said quietly "I didn't... think about that."  
"Oh it's okay." said Sirius "It's the parent's job to worry and it's the kid's job to break the rules and have fun... just maybe not while there's people out on the run who'd have good reason to want to see you dead..."  
"I know. I really am... sorry."  
He grinned "I mean, the worst part is, you were completely right. Moony's a bit of a hypocrite. You should've seen some of the shit he pulled when we were your age. Sneaking out for one night to watch a movie... that wouldn't even make it into the top ten."  
"That sounds an awful lot like a challenge, Sirius." said Jane.  
After her talk with Sirius, Jane finally went to apologize to Remus as well. Of course that didn't change anything about her being grounded, but at least the mood in Grimmauld Place got a little better. At least for a few days, but then happened what they'd all been dreading and Sirius ran out of Euphoria. He'd been drinking less and less of it every day, building up for the moment, but nothing could've prepared him for the crash. First it came in small waves. Desperately wanting to relive his twenties, he'd completely missed out on, angry tirades about Dumbledore, short episodes, during which he seemed to be stuck back in Azkaban, with all the memories streaming back in, and sudden mania, which he lived out by running through the house, acting like a teenager, not like a thirty-four year old.   
And then that wasn't enough and he'd be overcome by waves of sadness and treat Jane like a little kid, ask if he could read her to sleep, if she wanted to go for a walk, and then he'd shift to treating her like someone his own age, acting like a pal. It wasn't too bad- as in it wasn't scary and he didn't act completely insane, but there was a certain need to tiptoe around him until they knew which Sirius they were dealing with in that moment. Jane also knew he cried quite a lot, though she was never there for that. She just went along with whatever was coming her way, even though she never managed to call him 'dad'. Sometimes he'd flinch when she called him Sirius, other times he'd offer her a cigarette. What she really wanted, was for Harry to be there. Because Sirius had missed out on Harry growing up as well, and that seemed to fill him with almost as much regret as it did with missing out on Jane growing up.  
She felt guilty admitting it to herself, but she was sort of relieved to escape from time to time to go to work, even if all Haven ever did was tease her about Adrian, or at least that was until an unsuspecting day, nearing the end of August. She had barely stumbled out of the fireplace, when both her hands were painfully pressed together, and she was pushed into the wall next to it, Haven's arm painfully pressing against her throat. Her eyes and hair were flaming red, but what Jane really noticed, were fresh bruises on her forehead, cheek and all around her neck. In addition to the bruises on her face, Jane could make out a thin, new but fading scar on Haven's cheek and a much thicker one, in the shape of a halfmoon on her forehead.  
"Who did you tell?" she asked angrily, pushing her arm deeper into Jane's throat, while she desperately tried to push her away.  
"What?" she gasped "What happened to you?"  
"WHO DID YOU TELL?" screamed Haven "Who did you tell I work here?"  
Jane shook her head "Nobody." she coughed and tried to catch a breath "I just- just told- my dad-" she had to blink a few times to stop her vision from fading "That a Slytherin worked here."  
"Don't lie!" she pushed even harder and whimpered at the pain "You told someone. Admit it!"  
"I swear to god I didn't-"  
"Swear on something that matters to you." she hissed.  
"Fine-" Jane coughed again and tried to swallow or push Haven away just a little while her head felt like it was going to explode, but her hands just weakly clung to her strong arm "I swear on Harry and my dad- and Hogwarts- I swear on Gryffindor- and my friends-" Haven's hair slowly turned from red to a dark blue and she loosened her grip and watched with disgust how Jane fell to her knees, desperately gasping and coughing for air, feeling like she was about to throw up. "Haven, what happened to you?" she managed to get out.  
"Would you be willing to say the same thing on Veritas Serum?" she said instead.  
"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Jane pulled herself back on her feet and eyed Haven's bruises "But what happened to you? What has been going on-"  
"That's none of your business."  
"You definitely made it my business right now." she put her hand on Haven's jaw and turned it to have a better look but she angrily slapped her hand away.  
"Don't ever do that again." she said dangerously, her hair once again flaming red.  
"Sorry." muttered Jane "Just tell me what's going on-"  
"I said that's none of your business." she took a deep breath and straightened herself up a little "I'm sorry to inform you, but we'll have to let you go. Safety reasons and so on. Can't have you Floo powder in and out whenever you'd like."  
"Fine." said Jane, handing over the wooden chip.  
"You still can't tell anyone I'm here. best you forget my name, the hotel's name and the location."  
"I'll try." said Jane "Why don't you try to talk to me? Tell me what happened-"  
"We aren't friends Lupin. If I want to talk to someone, I'll talk to my friends. Now piss off-"  
"Haven, behave." the tall guy, Jane had seen around a few times entered the room "Innocent?"  
"She says so." shrugged Haven.  
"Well? Do you trust her or should we get some Veritas Serum?"  
"I don't trust anyone. But suppose Lupin's clear. Right?"  
Jane nodded quickly "I promise-"  
"Fine." said the guy "Sorry for the inconvenience."  
Haven rolled her eyes "You always have to be so proper Isaac, just let her get away already."  
"Fine-" said Isaac "Farewell, Lupin." he gave a quick wave of his hand and disappeared together with Haven and with a sigh, Jane Floo powdered back to Grimmauld Place.  
"You're back early." noticed Remus immediately.  
"Yeah-" said Jane, her voice still hoarse and her throat hurting terribly "Just got fired."  
"Oh bloody hell. What did you do now?"  
"Nothing."  
"Well why did they fire you then?"  
"Because-" she huffed "someone at the hotel was attacked, and they had to let me go. Safety stuff."  
"Oh-" he said quickly "Is everything okay now?"  
"They got hurt really bad. But otherwise it seems to be okay." she closed her eyes and tried to push the tears back down. She felt like someone had run over her neck and every word felt like it was going to kill her. She peered outside the window, where Sirius was once again working on the Triumph and changed the subject "Is he going to be okay?"  
"Of course." he gestured to follow her into her bedroom and sat down on the bed "He needs some time to adjust to everything, once he does it's going to be fine."  
"How sure are you of that?"  
"Dunno... I just really hope it's going to be." it couldn't be easy for him either. Remus had started acting like an adult a long time ago, so when Sirius suddenly treated him like a schoolboy, it was hard to just pretend that was normal. So Jane for example had to ignore the giant hickey hiding under her father's collar and pretend she believed it was a bad rash. "When you're back at school I'll see what I can do for him... is it still okay for you?"  
Jane shrugged "I don't mind. I'd just like for him to be okay again. It seems rough."  
"You know, he just feels like he missed out on a lot-"  
"I know. And he did. It's not a problem for me. I'd just like to be able to help-"  
"Hey Am- Am!" Sirius barged into the room "News, I have news, come on- you too, Moony!"  
"What?" said Remus, confused.  
They followed Sirius into the drawing room, where Ron and a nasty looking house elf were standing. "Wait, who's that?" said Jane, inspecting the elf.  
"I'm Ron." said Ron.  
"That's Kreacher." said Sirius "He lives here."  
"I've never seen him before." said Jane.  
"Well- he's been avoiding you like the plague."  
"Why? I'm lovely."  
"Yes, to the untrained eye." said Remus "By untrained I mean blind. And probably deaf. In a coma."  
"You're funny." said Jane, wryly. "Hi Kreacher, nice to meet you. I'm Jane." she held out her hand but the elf looked almost desperately to Sirius.  
"Kreacher lives to serve the Noble House of Black." he grunted "Miss Black must forgive me." he disapparated from the room before Jane could even understand what was going on.  
"Don't mind that." sighed Sirius "He's never been too pleasant. Not a friend of Muggleborns either. You're mother was one, of course-" he went quiet and Remus quickly went to change the subject.  
"So what's the news then?"  
Sirius stayed quiet. He was absently staring at the wall now, clearly somewhere else. It happened a lot recently. Instead Ron took it on himself to answer "It's not just news. It's the best news anyone's ever gonna get."   
"Well? Spit it out." said Jane.  
Ron rubbed his hands together with a wide grin "We have tickets."  
Jane held her breath. Tickets. She had an idea what tickets could mean but she didn't want to get her hopes up before he confirmed. "For?"  
"FOR THE WORLD CUP!" he yelled and the next thing Jane knew was she was shrieking and jumping up and down with Ron.  
"No way! No way! No way!"  
"Yes way! Dad got them- we're all going! Like we said! Harry and Hermione are already at our place and you-"  
"Shame." sighed Remus "Jane's grounded."  
Jane spun around and felt like she might actually throw a tantrum like she did when she was four and he wouldn't allow her to climb into the tiger enclosure at the zoo to pet them "Even... even when-"  
"You know the rules Jane."  
"Professor Lupin, Remus, sir-" said Ron "I mean I totally get it. I think Jane should be locked up under constant supervision all day and night, but this is the World Cup we're talking about. The Quidditch World Cup. Once in a lifetime opportunity and-"  
"Jane snuck out in the middle of the night and she's grounded for that. I'm sorry. I'm sure-"  
"Veto." said Sirius and Remus looked at him with confusion.  
"What?"  
"Veto." said Sirius "Let's go out into the hall for a second." the left outside the door and Ron and Jane immediately jumped to the door to listen to what they were talking.  
"Pad-"  
"Moony I get it. But I have to veto this decision."  
"Stop saying veto!"  
"No. Listen Moony, I already said it's fine for Harry to go, and Amaris is my daughter too, y'know? Ron is right, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I want her to go. I want her to have fun and see the game. Voldemort is about to return and all hell is about to break loose and she deserves to see this Quidditch game before it does. Who know how many more years those kids have left before they're forced into the positions we were forced into? To join the war either for the order or Voldemort, or to die."  
"I know that Pads, but Jane barely ever learns from her mistakes as it is. If we don't go through with punishment, it'll never get better."  
"Moony, she's not a bad person, she's just a little- like we used to be. And we talked about the sneaking out thing, she came to apologize to you, she gets it. I think having the boy break up with her because of us was punishment enough. She made a mistake, she gets it, don't take something as amazing as the world cup away from her."  
"But-"  
"Moony! Come on. You've done an amazing job raising her so far, you've got to see that she understands she made a mistake. She's a good kid, let her go to the game. They've all been looking forward to it. We used to sneak out all the time, we were just lucky enough to be in different circumstances."  
A moment of complete silence followed and then a deep sigh from Remus "Fine." he said finally and Ron and Jane quickly jumped away from the door before it opened again and an annoyed Remus and a smug Sirius entered again.  
"Good news." said Sirius and Jane grinned.  
"I can go?"  
"You can go." said Remus.  
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she wrapped her arms around him "You won't regret it. I promise!"  
"If I had a Galleon for every time you said that and I definitely regretted it... we could probably buy Malfoy Manor by now."  
"You're funny." she turned to smile at Sirius "Thank you for convincing him."  
"Of course." he smiled just as awkwardly "You kids are gonna have the time of your lives, no doubt."  
Ron stayed for lunch and then helped Jane pack for the stay at the Burrow and the World Cup. "So, Pucey dumped you?" was the first thing he said once they arrived at the Burrow and she had settled into Ginny's room. She could've killed him in that moment, and avoided eye contact with Fred and George who both curiously raised their eyebrows.  
"He didn't dump me." she said quietly.  
"Your dad said he broke up with you. That's also called getting dumped. What happened?"  
"Wait, is he serious?" said Harry "He seriously had the audacity to dump you?"  
"Shouldn't you be happy?" scoffed Jane.  
"If you would've dumped him, sure. But who the hell does he think he is? As if he could do any better-"  
"I'm sorry." interrupted George "Pucey as in... Adrian Pucey? From our year? Slytherin, Chaser, jackass?"  
"No." said Jane "It's not a big deal, can we just not talk about it?" she stared around for a second before angrily adding "And he didn't dump me. It was a mutual decision."  
"I can't believe it!" said George "Jane Lupin, honestly! There's a perfectly decent selection of Gryffindor guys and you somehow chose to go out with Adrian Pucey? Adrian Pussy? A Slytherin? Ew-" he shuddered "And they call us bloodtraitors."  
"And then he dumped her." cried Harry "It's embarrassing."  
"Oh let her be." said Hermione "At least she could get someone to go out with her. That's more than any of you can say."  
"Yeah?" sneered George "Lupin, did you do much begging to get a Slytherin to go out with you?"  
"Can we please stop talking about it now?" she said again "It doesn't even matter, just give it a rest already."  
"So you did beg." grinned George.  
"Actually-" hissed Jane "He asked me and now give it a rest. There's definitely more important things to talk about than Pucey."  
"Actually there are." said George "Better come join us in our office for a second." he nudged Fred, but he didn't move.  
"You go." he said darkly "Don't feel like it."  
"Fine." said George and had Jane follow him.  
"What's Fred's deal?" she asked when they stood in the twins' room.  
"What do you think?" said George "Anyways... we've got some news- good news and bad ones."  
"Bad ones first."  
"Mum was cleaning our room and found all the orders... destroyed them all. Basically tried to kill Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."  
"That's not good." she agreed.  
"Indeed. However, we finally managed to try out the Ton-Tongue-Toffee, on Harry's cousin Dudley. It worked perfectly."  
"Brilliant." said Jane, gladly imagining a giant tongue rolling out of the pig's mouth "So, what'll we do about the orders?"  
"We'll figure something out. We'll try to expand anyways, and for now we'll just have to see how quickly we can get back on track. In February we'll gain a bunch of new customers with all the Vicious Valentines, and then we'll start saving for the shop..."  
"I mean... it's sort of a plan."  
"Yeah-" he pushed a pen around on his desk "So... should I ask"?  
"Ask what?"  
"You and Pucey... you didn't- y'know?"  
"Wha- oh god, no." she said quickly "Bloody hell, no, why would you even think that?"  
He shrugged "I mean you're fourteen... some people think that's old enough to- anyways, I just want to make sure you don't do anything stupid. Nothing you'd regret or anything like that."  
Jane tried to hide her burning hot face behind her hair "Please stop talking about that."  
"We're your older friends y'know... known you since you were just a little kid-"  
"Eleven. I was eleven."  
"A little kid. If you have questions-"  
"Thanks Weasley, I'm gonna go and kill myself now."  
"Jane, come on. Did he try something? Is that why you broke up?"  
"George. No, stop, please. We went to see a movie in the middle of the night, got caught by my fathers, one of which was imprisoned for being a mass murderer, and one who was exposed as a werewolf, and somehow they managed to scare him away. It sucks, it's over now, we don't ever have to talk about him again. Okay?"  
"Well- do you want to talk about that-"  
"No." she said swiftly "I don't care. He's a boy I used to hang out with, now he's a boy I don't hang out with anymore. Big deal."  
"It is."   
"George, please. I don't want to talk about it."  
"Fine." he finally let it go and they re-joined the others in Ron's room. Fred didn't speak a single word with Jane all evening and it was slowly, but surely beginning to piss her off. When it was just her, Hermione and Ginny, Hermione suggested that he was jealous, but neither Ginny nor Jane believed that to be the case. Jane spent a few hours brooding, long after everybody else had gone to sleep, until she finally decided to sneak back to Ron's room and crawl under Harry's blanket.  
"Is it some sort of requirement for you to always have cold feet?" he hissed but made some space and let Jane put her head on his chest.  
"Missed you."  
"I missed you too." he wrapped his arms around her.  
"Was it bad at the Dursleys?"  
She felt him shrug "I don't think it was any worse than usual... but I'm not quite as used to it anymore. Now that things are getting better."  
"We'll get you out of there completely." she said firmly "You'll come live with us all summer, very soon. Promised."  
"But Dumbledore said-"  
"Respectfully- fuck Dumbledore. He has no right to control who you live with. That stupid love protection crap- we'll keep you safe, and we actually love you."  
He sighed "I wish it was this easy."  
"Well, then we'll make it that easy." she gave him a quick kiss on the forehead and drifted off almost immediately. It always seemed easier to fall asleep when Harry was there. They even talked about moving in together someday. They didn't just talk about it, they planned it. Immediately after graduating from Hogwarts they'd just go and travel the world, at least for half a year, if not a full one, and then they'd move into one of the new flats being built in Diagon Alley. Save up, maybe both become professional Quidditch players, until they were both ready to start real adult lives and buy a house and stuff like that.   
Jane would often dream about that sort of life. She even did that night. It wasn't anything fancy, it was just them. Getting up in the morning to go and work at the shop Fred and George would open, she always thought she'd marry Fred someday- well, she never thought it, she just imagined it. How in her ideal future they'd have a family and meet George, Lee, Harry, Ron and Hermione on the first of September to drop their kids off at platform nine and three-quarters. But recently her dreams would be disturbed by death. What if Harry died, what if she died, what if any of er friends died. They'd escaped it too many times already, considering how young they were, and according to the prophecy, it was only going to get worse from now on.


	21. T H E   W O R L D   C U P

Jane got up exceptionally early the next day, only to run into two complete strangers in the kitchen. She eyed them curiously "Red hair, freckles... you two must be Weasleys. Let me guess," she pointed at the one with long hair and a feather earring "Bill and you-" she turned to look at the shorter one of the two, so freckly, he was almost tan, with small scars and blisters all over his hands and part of his right eyebrow burnt off "Charlie."   
"Black hair, no freckles, you're definitely not Ginny. Can't be Hermione either." said Bill "So I'm looking at the infamous Jane, is that correct?" he stepped forward to shake Jane's hand and then so did Charlie.  
"Bet Percy's told you all about me." said Jane, nodding knowingly "I'm his favourite person, you know?"  
"Actually he just told us to hide all shiny objects from you." said Charlie.   
"Fair enough." said Jane "Suppose you'd want your charm bracelet back, then?" she watched proudly as Charlie quickly pushed his sleeve back a little only to actually reveal a bracelet with a small dragon-charm on it. "No way! Here I was trying to mess with your head and I actually guessed correctly for once."  
"Did you come down here to get something to drink?"   
"Dunno yet." she said inspecting him again "You strike me too much as a tea and herbs sort of guy... what about you Bill? D'you know how to make coffee? Haven't got a wand and we have a machine at home."  
"It'll be ready any second m'lady." said Bill and nudged Charlie, who seemed to try and figure out what was so bad about tea and herbs. "So, what's your deal?" said Bill, handing her a mug with hot coffee "You've got a machine, are your parents muggles?"  
Jane shook her head "No, actually I'm half werewolf and half German Shepherd, but it's a common misconception." she looked at their confused faces "They're all magic. Though my mother herself was muggleborn. But if there's people around who aren't allowed to use their wands yet, it's practical to have some muggle stuff."  
"Oh great. You're here." muttered Fred, pushing past Jane into the kitchen.  
"Yeah. Morning sunshine." said Jane. So he went from not talking to her at all to very subtle hostility. How fun.  
"Alright then-" said Charlie with a friendly smile "We'll go to sleep now. See you lot later."  
"What?" said Jane "Aren't we supposed to- what?"  
"Oh, don't tell our mother, but we just got in. Anyways, we'll be apparating, so we can take a nap before we can get going." said Bill "So... goodnight."  
"Yeah-" Jane saluted "Goodnight." she would've liked to have given Fred a good kick for the way he was glaring at her.  
"They might be too old for you." he said wryly and with a sharp inhale, the hot coffee went down the wrong pipe and Jane began coughing uncontrollably. Her throat felt like it was going to explode while the ringing in her ears and the nausea returned.  
"Screw you." she gasped, reaching for her neck but pulling her hand away immediately. Overnight the entire skin on her neck had grown one large, irritated bruise.   
"Wait, what happened-"  
"Oh good, you are already up." said Mrs Weasley storming into the kitchen "Good, good, we're about to get going, are you all packed?" she didn't wait for a response and ran back upstairs to wake up the others.  
"Lupin-" said Fred "what happened-"  
"Nothing." she muttered "I have to go get my stuff."  
She suffered quietly through breakfast, even though every swallow felt like the end of the world and she angrily glared at Fred while also considering every vicious prank she would play on Haven in the coming year. Harry was right, no Gryffindor should ever allow a Slytherin to treat them like that, especially not two of them in the span of just the summer holidays.   
After that she let George hide a big portion of Ton-Tongue Toffees in her bag, luckily so, because shortly after, Mrs Weasley made him and Fred get rid of all the toffees they were smuggling in their pockets, which made the atmosphere hardly better.  
"Stupid O.W.L.s." muttered George when they were finally on their way to the portkey. "Don't know why she cares so much."  
"Mhm." croaked Jane for the hundredth time.  
"Alright, that's it." said Fred and pulled Jane aside "What happened to you?"  
"None of your business."  
"Well, then at least tell me, if someone else knows. Your father or someone else who can help-"  
"I don't need help. And someone does know, so you can just leave me alone."  
"Fine, be stubborn!" he called, when she went to walk with Hermione and Ginny instead "See if I care!"  
"Oh, you two are getting along well." noticed Hermione.  
Jane gave a dark look, with her nose and lips twitching "I'll kill him if no one stops me."  
"I know you don't want to hear it but-"  
"He's not jealous." said Jane again "He's got a problem with Slytherins and has to be annoying about it."  
"She's right." said Ginny "I mean, I've never seen him like this, but Fred just isn't a jealous person."  
"He's just being weird." said Jane "You should've heard him this morning. I was talking with Bill and Charlie-"  
"Oh you met them?" said Ginny "Don't let mom hear that. She sent them away yesterday, when she knew you were coming."  
"She really doesn't like me, does she."   
She shook her head "Not one bit. I think she likes to pretend it's your fault that Fred and George messed up with the O.W.L.s. Don't worry, she disapproves of everything when it's convenient."  
"Great."  
By the time, they finally made it to the portkey, Hermione and Jane were far behind the rest of the group, trying to catch a breath. Hermione had a bad side stitch and Jane's trachea felt like it was being crushed. She wondered if Oliver Wood would cry if he saw her this out of form after drilling her for the entire last year.  
"Oh my god-" panted Hermione, grabbing Jane's arm and pointing at two people joining the others "Is that-"  
"Cedric Diggory." said Ginny, and suddenly all three of them stood completely straight and pushed their hair behind their ears before wandering over to the group.  
"This is Amors Diggory, everyone." introduced Mr Weasley Cedric's father. "Works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"  
"Hi." said Cedric.  
"Hi." piped Hermione, Ginny and Jane smiling up at him and Jane could hear Fred scoff somewhere next to her.  
"Long walk, Arthur?" said Mr Diggory.  
"He's handsome, isn't he." whispered Ginny.  
"Aren't you busy pining after Harry?" whispered Jane back.  
"Doesn't hurt to look." she grinned and Hermione and Jane giggled quietly.  
"Suppose it doesn't."  
"All these yours, Arthur?" said Mr Diggory.  
"Oh, no, only the redheads." said Mr Weasley "This is Hermione and Jane, friends of Ron's- and Harry, another friend-"  
"Merlin's beard. Harry? Harry Potter?"  
"Er- yeah." said Harry.  
"Ced's talked about you, of course. Told us all about playing against you last year... I said to him, I said- Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will... you beat Harry Potter!"  
Jane snorted with laughter and then immediately went to reach for her neck. "Harry fell off his broom, Dad." said Cedric "I told you... is was an accident..."  
"So humble." whispered Ginny jokingly and Jane playfully slapped her arm.  
"Keep it together Weasley, he's too old."  
"I don't mind."  
"Shush, both of you." said Hermione, grinning as well. After a little more chatter, and Mr Diggory trying to shorten Harry's ego a little, they finally took the portkey to the campsite, where they were shown towards the field to put up their tents on, by one of the many funnily dressed wizards, trying to blend in as muggles, quite unsuccessfully, as anyone who'd ever seen a muggle before, could've told them, including the one, Mr Roberts, who had to be obliviated, probably not the first time that day.   
Jane stood absently for a while, watching Harry and Hermione struggle with putting up the tents, wishing for nothing more, than an opportunity to sit and catch a breath that wouldn't greet her with agonizing pain. But eventually she at least helped to pull the flysheets over the poles, thinking it might quicken the process of her finding some soothing tea. Just as they were done with building up the tents and about to enter, Jane saw Haven's white hair flashing through from between two other tents.  
"Excuse me." she said quickly to Mr Weasley "I'll be back in a jiff, but I have to talk to someone." she ran over to where Haven was talking to Cedric Diggory and almost pushed her to the ground before restraining herself "I think you and I should have a talk."  
"I think you should piss off." hissed Haven.  
"Yeah?" Jane cracked her knuckles and made a step closer "I think you have some explaining to do. I think you should at least apologize. I think, you should get one of your friends over the age of seventeen to fix what you did, because it hurts, and I am currently keeping a secret for your sake even though I don't feel like keeping it."  
"Oh-" Haven made a sort of puppy face and let her bottom lip quiver, all with the most blatant sarcasm "do you have a little booboo? Do you want mommy to kiss it and make it better? I told you to piss off-"  
"C'mon Haven." said Cedric "What d'you need Jane?"  
Jane bit her tongue and glared at Haven "Not going to say anything stupid."  
"She's having a fit because I choked her a little." sighed Haven.  
"Well, that's no problem." said Cedric, not looking remotely surprised at Haven's statement "Yeah, I can take care of that, if you want."  
Jane shrugged.  
"Alright, take a seat, will you. I'm not that good at the whole healing magic stuff, but thanks to Haven, this isn't the first time-"  
"Stop yapping and do what you have to do." said Haven.  
"I'm just saying, you could be a little less aggressive at times."  
"You see where that got me, don't you?" she barked "You don't even know if she deserves your help. Maybe she's a liar."  
"I told you, I'm not lying." said Jane with a grunt "Told you, you can use your stupid Veritas Serum on me if you insist."  
"Right." she scoffed "As if it's hard to get your hands on the antidote."  
"Actually it is. I wouldn't even know who to ask for it."  
"Pathetic." she nudged Cedric "Can you hurry up, Ced?"  
"Yes, yes." Cedric pulled out his wand and looked at Jane's neck "Haven, were you trying to kill her?" it was a joke, but Haven didn't look like the idea hadn't crossed her mind.  
"I wasn't trying, no. But if I would've wanted to, I could've broken her neck with one move." she smiled at Jane "Take that as a warning."  
"Yes, well- you warned me about a lot of things and I followed your rules, and somehow you still went on your rampage."  
"Right, that's it. I'm going back to the others, I'm no dealing with your crap today, Lupin. See you in a bit, Ced."  
"Yeah, see you." he said politely before turning back to Jane "You can't take what she does too personally."  
"Yes, why should I take it personally."  
"She's been through a lot."  
"Right. Why are you so involved? Didn't think a Hufflepuff nice guy like you would have too much to do with the brood of the devil herself. A Slytherin one for that matter."  
He sighed "We both lost someone dear to us. And yesterday... well, I am not in a position to say, but she's just worried. She's actually quite sweet, once you get to know her."  
"So people keep telling me."  
Cedric gave his wand one more flick and got back up on his feet "All done. Does anything still hurt?"  
Jane cleared her throat and reached for her skin, but it seemed all alright again "No, I'm fine. Thanks."  
"Can I ask you something?"  
"Shoot."  
"Quidditch, last year- why didn't you try to run from the Dementors?"  
"Dunno-" Jane crossed her arms "I was sort of frozen. Dunno if it was fear, or if it was them."  
"Why did they want you anyways?"  
"Because I'm very desirable."  
"Ah-"  
"They mistook me for- y'know- Sirius."  
"Right... that whole him being your father thing came as sort of a surprise."  
"Not just for you."  
"No doubt-" he cleared his throat and kicked a bit of grass in front of him "Anyways, I gotta go now- see you at the game- or at school."  
"Yeah- thanks again for the help."  
"Oh don't mention it." he smiled "I mean, really, do yourself and Haven a favour and don't tell anyone about this, alright?"  
"Yeah, I really wasn't planning on having her break my hands or something next."  
"She's really not all that bad." he said again, before leaving into the direction, Haven went, and Jane headed back to the Weasley's tents, where Fred was standing with crossed arms and glaring after Cedric.  
"Did you forget what happened during our match against Hufflepuff or why are you being all friendly with Diggory know?"  
"He's a decent guy." sighed Jane "Even Wood said it was a fair game, not everybody who beats you at Quidditch is a villain, y'know?"  
"Of course you'd say that."  
Jane clenched her fists and took a deep breath "What's that supposed to mean."  
"Bet Pucey's a decent guy as well, eh? Bet they're all really decent guys."  
"As a matter of fact, he is. The only one who's far from decent right now, is you Weasley. Y'know-" she said quietly "It really sucks you had to ruin our friendship about something this petty." then she left him standing and crawled into the girl's tent to tell Ginny about the stupid fight she'd just had.  
Ginny furrowed her eyebrows "That sounds nothing like Fred."  
"You tell me." Jane sighed "You wanna go have a look around? They said the Lovegoods are here, Loony's in your year, no?"  
"Yeah, but I barely know her." said Ginny swiftly "Ron, Hermione and Harry are out as well right now- let's go."   
Apparently they took the same way, the trio did before them, because everybody they ran into, after greeting them excitedly, of course, mentioned just having seen the others a few minutes ago.   
"Nice tents." said Jane to Seamus and Dean, who were sitting on a field of tents, covered with thick growths of shamrock. "So, you're rooting for the Bulgarians then, right?"  
The blonde woman next to Seamus almost jumped out of her seat and Seamus quickly said "She's joking mom."  
"Yes, sorry Mrs Finnigan."  
"Ah." his mother said, rather wryly "Funny."  
"That went well." said Jane, when her and Ginny moved on from the Irish patch "As you can see, parents tend to love me."  
"I noticed."  
"Jane!" before she could even turn to see who'd called her name, Oliver Wood picked her up and hugged her in a rib-crushing manner "Oh, now this is brilliant! Seeing you here, brilliant! C'mon, I need you to meet my mother, I told her all about you- look at you- you look like a girl, nice. C'mon- hi Ginny- well- will you move already?"  
"Hi Oliver." said Jane "Good to see you, Oliver. How was your summer, Oliver?"  
"Oh, yes- yes. My summer was brilliant, I am officially playing for Puddlemere United- well, I'm on the reserve team, just as exciting."  
"Oh wow." said Ginny "That's really cool."  
"Yeah, congrats." added Jane.  
Oliver dragged them along to his tent where he eagerly introduced them to his mother "Mom, that's Jane Lupin, the one I've been telling you all about."  
"Hi Mrs Wood." said Jane smiling awkwardly.  
"Oh, of course- Jane!" Oliver's mother sounded just as excited as he did "After what Oliver told me, I was devastated I never got to see you play! Eleven scores in one game, and a short one at that! Impressive, very impressive. Of course all thanks to my boy, no doubt he's been training you all year. Look at that-" she inspected Jane's arms like she was some sort of racing horse "strong one, aren't you. This one your throwing arm?" she pinched Jane's right arm and she nodded "Good arm, good aim- and who's that?" she looked over to Ginny "Play Quidditch as well?"  
"I'm Ginny." she said politely and shook Mrs Wood's hand "I do- well, not on the team, but I practice quite a lot. I'll try out eventually."  
"Yes-" Mrs Wood nodded seriously. "You seem like you would make a wonderful Chaser as well- is that what you're going for? No doubt you'd also make a good Seeker, but from what I've heard that Harry Potter was quite the addition to the team- nice boy, just passed through do you know him?"  
"Of course they know him, mom." said Oliver.  
"Actually, Harry's my best friend, and Ginny's Ron's sister- Harry's other best friend."  
"Ah that tall redheaded boy." she said knowingly "I should've guessed."  
"Oh look!" said Ginny, once they were finally out of the Wood's tent, after Oliver made Jane promise, he'd get to introduce some of the Puddlemere players to her. "Ice cream."  
"They've got no shame." said Jane, allowing Ginny to drag her along "By the time the world cup is over, poor Mr Roberts' brain is going to be all messed up." no doubt, the muggle would have a question or two on how the ice creams were just standing there, in the sun without melting at all.  
"Do you want some or not?"  
"You know it." said Jane, searching for some Sickles in her pockets and going up to the man at the stand. Despite selling something clearly magical, he was trying to pass as a muggle, just like everybody else, and just as unsuccessfully, in a lacy, blue, button-up shirt, a kilt, and knee-high boots.  
"Ice-cream?"  
"Yes please." said Ginny "One chocolate please."  
"And one strawberry." added Jane and the man passed them two cones.  
"On the house." he said politely, when the girls went to give them their money.  
"Thank you."  
"Yes, thank you." They kept wandering aimlessly for a little longer and occasionally bumped into someone from their school, until they made their way back to their tents, though Jane was firmly protesting that decision. "Don't make me go!" she frowned "I hate your brother."  
"Which one?"  
"All of them, but right now, Gideon is on top of the list."  
"Okay, but I'm starving, and Dad's gonna make food."  
"We just had ice cream-"  
"That's not food." she insisted "Besides, we already walked that off."  
"How about you get Hermione and we can go look if we find someone selling chips."  
"How about you just ignore Fred until his brain goes back to normal."  
"Fish and chips"  
"Ignore him."  
"Or maybe a nice butty-"  
"Jane."  
"Fine." Jane groaned "He's a reet berk though, y'know? Kick him for me, can you?" they went back to the tent, where a small fire was already burning.   
"Hey." said George quietly "Can you give me the goods from your bag? We'll go for a stroll, see if we can find some buyers. Wanna come along?"  
Jane handed him her entire bag and glanced over to Fred "Thanks, I'd rather not." instead she signalled Ron to come over "Chess?"  
Asking Ron to play chess with her, was like hanging out with her father during a full moon. For the past three years, Ron had desperately tried to teach Jane how to play, and for the past three years, she had made his blood boil every single time. It usually ended in a dramatic screaming match, because Jane seemed incapable of learning. Yet, he agreed to play every single time, and of course this time the outcome wasn't any different. After about half an hour, Ron looked at Jane like he was imagining stabbing her right in the face.  
"That was a stupid move." he hissed "I tell you every time that that's a stupid move and you do it every single time!"  
"You put your stupid horse thing there, what do you expect me to do?"  
"It's the knight! It's the knight! How do you not remember their names?"  
"It's a horse! Horses aren't knights!"  
"The knight is riding the horse!"  
"Clearly not!" she held up the piece. It was a cheap muggle set made of plastic, and the piece was nothing but a horse's head "Who cares about the names? You put your horse in front of my tower thing and I had to go somewhere else."  
"It's the rook, you imbecile! Look at your king, LOOK AT YOUR KING!"  
"Well- alright then-" Jane picked up he queen and placed her right in front of Ron's king "How about that? Check mate."  
"That is NOT a move!" he shrieked.  
"You said the queen can go everywhere-"  
"She can move in any direction! She can't move through the other pieces and she can't zick-zack- and even if she could, now my king can take her out and you lost your queen and you're still not protecting your king!"  
"That doesn't even make sense."  
Ron gasped for air and seemed like he was going to pass out "How- HOW does it not make sense? ALL OF IT MAKES SENSE!"  
"You're always getting so worked up when we play."  
Ron's right eye was now uncontrollably twitching and his nostrils were flaring "I am such a calm, collected person but the second we sit down to play chess, I want to strangle you. I might actually leap over this table, wrap my hands around your stupid neck and choke you until you turn blue and die, and then I'll laugh, and sure, they'll send me to Azkaban, but it will have been worth it because I rid the world of the worst chess player to ever walk the earth, and they'll write songs about me, praising me for my heroic actions."  
Jane gave an offended pout "Stop beefin', you're just a sore loser."  
"I DIDN'T LOSE!"  
Behind him, both Harry and Hermione were breaking out in violent fits of laughter "Man-" Harry gasped for air between laughs "Ron, don't take it so hard. We all lose at chess sometimes."  
"Yes Ronald." said Hermione "It's not as bad as you think it is."  
"I have had it!" with one move, Ron wiped the board and all the pieces on the floor and stomped out of the tent.  
"You're doing it on purpose, right?" said Harry, wiping a tear from his eyes "You know the queen doesn't move like that, right?"  
Jane shrugged "I wish I was messing with him. I mean- yeah, I know how the pieces move, but if you think I have any sort of clue when it comes to strategy, you're terribly wrong." she picked up the pieces and put the set back together, before shoving it back in Ron's bag. "Y'know... Adrian's a brilliant chess player. We went to the park once and tried to play... he beat me in I think three moves."  
"Anyone could beat you in three moves." huffed Ron, crawling back into the tent. His face was still red, but otherwise he seemed to have calmed down.  
"Yeah- well Adrian's sort of really smart." she went quiet and quickly wiped her eyes before moving on to annoy Harry instead.   
About another half hour later, the fire was finally hot enough to begin cooking and Bill, Charlie and Percy all emerged from the woods, to join them.   
"You coming Jane?" said Hermione, ready to hand Jane a plate with eggs.  
"Gimme a second, my hands are all hacky." she went into the bathroom to wash her hands, only to have Fred pop up right next to her.  
"I didn't mean it, y'know?" he said quietly.  
"Mean what."  
"I didn't mean you're a... y'know- dunno, I was a prick, but I really didn't mean to imply anything. I was just pissed off, because- y'know, he's a Slytherin."  
"Yeah, you're just a mardy arse, I don't really care what you say." said Jane, leaving the bathroom again.   
He groaned and ran after her "I really didn't mean anything by it, okay?"  
"Mhm."  
"Can you please talk to me?"  
"No. I don't care what you meant. You said it, for absolutely no reason, may I add. So what if he's a Slytherin? It's the summer holidays. We're not in school, our houses don't mean shit."  
"Yeah they do. Our house is our family."  
"Glad to see how you treat family then." she hissed and disappeared into the girls' tent instead, searching for a comic book to keep her distracted from her annoyance.  
"Here you go." said Hermione, crawling into the tent and handing Jane a plate with eggs "So... still fighting, are you."  
"Don't mind that." muttered Jane "I wish he'd act normal again, it's getting annoying."  
"No doubt." she squeezed her knee and got up again "I'll leave you to wallow a bit. Get it all out-exciting day ahead."  
Indeed it was. Jane didn't have a lot of wallowing to do, but she did her best to calm her nerves and prepare to keep them calm for the rest of the day, no matter how badly Fred tried her. When she finally left the tent with her usual grin, ready to go see the game, she was greeted by Bill and Charlie.  
"Alright there, Jay?" said Charlie, making Jane wince "It's far too good of a day to be spending it locked away in a tent."  
"Well Charles, I prefer a bit of downtime before seeing the match of the century."  
"Who d'you reckon will win?"  
"The Irish, clearly."  
"Dunno. I mean, Krum's supposed to be the best Seeker alive."  
"He's going to catch the snitch, no doubt. But the Irish will win."  
"Ah man." said George "You should've joined our bet. We already told Bagman, that'll be the outcome. Bet a lot of money on that as well."  
Jane shrugged "I don't gamble."  
"Yes you do." Harry chimed in "Remember second year? You were taking bets on who the heir of Slytherin was. You even allowed them to put my name down."  
"But I didn't gamble." said Jane "I took the bets. Didn't participate."  
"You put a Knut on me." said Harry darkly.  
"As a joke!" she said "I knew it wasn't you."  
"You avoided me for a week after Finch-Fletchley was petrified."  
"I avoided everyone! I had the flu!"  
"You say."  
"Madam Pomfrey says."  
"You say Madam Pomfrey says."  
"Harold James Potter, d'you believe I'd avoid you if I believed you were the heir and then follow you into the Chamber of Secrets to face the Basilisk?"  
"You didn't face anything. You bullied Tom Riddle and played dead when it came out."  
"I didn't play dead. I just payed Ginny company and closed my eyes to meditate. You got a sword, I got a bladder infection."  
Together with Ginny, George and Bill, Jane went to buy some souvenirs, before the game started. She was thrilled to finally have some money to spend, after years of having to ignore everything great because they simply couldn't afford it and she passed George an Irish team jersey with the number six, which was his own Quidditch number, as well as the one of Irish Beater, Finbar Quigley. "My treat." she insisted, before he could protest, and went on to try on silly hats with Ginny.  
Bill even allowed Jane to paint his nails in green and white, joking that his mother would have a fit if she saw, to which Jane requested, he'd please put a permanenting spell on it. And then, after they barely made it back to the tents, a loud gong rang, and it was time for the game. They climbed up to the prime seats, a box in the highest point of the stadium and took their seats.   
Jane was excitedly chatting with Ginny, barely noticing all the rumble around her, until Cornelius Fudge gave her a pat on the shoulder, and Percy's piercing stare signalled Jane to shake Fudge's hand. "Ah, Miss Black." he said "How's your father? How's freedom treating him?"  
"Would've been better if it had been treating him well for the past thirteen years, but he's doing fine." said Jane and Percy looked like he was going to explode.  
"Yes, yes, very sorry about that. I hope the compensation for his troubles came in handy?"  
"Oh yeah." she said, wryly "Giving a wealthy man more money is definitely helping with trauma."  
"Very sorry, sir." said Percy "Her manners need improving, for sure. What she's trying to say is that they're very grateful." he gave Jane another warning look and half dragged Fudge away from her.  
"Seriously Jay!" joked Ginny "Work on your manners."  
"Yeah, Jay." said George, straightening his new jersey again "How dare you point out a flawed system?"  
Jane furrowed her eyebrows "What's the Jay thing about?"  
Ginny shrugged "It's a nickname."  
"I don't have nicknames."  
"Yeah, but Charlie called you that, no? And it's sort of fitting. At least more fitting than Jane, don't you think?"  
Charlie leaned back with a proud smile on his face "If it sticks, give me credit."  
"It won't-" Jane's eyes fell on the family that joined them in the box and felt like she was going to throw up "Malfoys." she whispered and moved a little closer to Ginny. Malfoy's mother, Narcissa, eyed her curiously, and Jane wished to be swallowed by the ground immediately. She tried to connect the dots in her head, Narcissa was Sirius'... cousin, which made her her aunt and... Jane felt sick, it made Malfoy her second cousin. She could've screamed. Blood related to Draco Malfoy, what could possibly be worse.  
While Mr Malfoy and Mr Weasley were having forced and very unpleasant smalltalk, Mrs Malfoy... née Black kept her eyes, her typical Black family striking grey eyes, fixed on Jane. Did she know? Had she heard the news? Did she know she was looking at her niece or was she just confused as to why they looked so alike? The only thing distinguishing her from the rest of their family, was here blonde straight hair, nothing like the usual dark curls. Another thought hit Jane, one almost more unpleasant than the first, of course all of this made Lucius Malfoy her uncle. She missed the days of oblivion, where she simply believed she was a Lupin with barely any significant family history, instead of having an uncle who tried to kill children at her school, just two years ago.  
Jane was just about to look away, when her aunt took a seat right behind her and held out her hand "Amaris." she said with a cold, but somewhat friendly voice "How nice to finally meet you."  
"Er-" Jane cleared her throat and shook the cold hand "Yeah... likewise."  
"I was very glad to find out Sirius is innocent."  
"Yeah-" Jane felt petrified, as if she'd been struck by the body binding curse and stared at Mrs Malfoy with wide eyes "So was he- I mean-"  
"Mom." hissed Malfoy, tapping his mother's arm and went to whisper something in her ear.  
"That's not very nice, Draco." she said with a stern look, but she finally took her eyes off Jane and focused on her needy son instead, allowing Jane to take a deep breath and blindly stared at the field instead.  
"You look pale." noticed Ginny and Jane signalled her to be quiet before Mrs Malfoy heard them and then the Veela walked out onto the field, and Jane, for the life of her, couldn't remember why she'd been so tense. In fact, she couldn't even remember how to breathe, and when they began dancing, she stared with her mouth agape and dry. "Jay, snap out of it." said Ginny, nudging her repeatedly, but it felt as though it would be a crime to take her eyes of the Veela, so Jane ignored her. "hello!" said Ginny, snapping her fingers in front of Jane's eyes, shortly before the Veela stopped dancing and Jane huffed.  
"You made me miss the end-" she said before looking around to see all of them, Harry, Ron, Bill, Fred, George and even Malfoy completely enchanted. The only ones who seemed unbothered, were Charlie and Mr Weasley, who grinned smugly. Meanwhile, both Ginny and Hermione stared with utter annoyance. "So-" Jane laughed nervously "guys, am I right?"  
"Aha." said Ginny wryly.  
Once the Veela were seated, and the Irish presented their mascots, the players shot out onto the field and the stadium erupted in loud cheers as they were presented.  
Jane could've kicked herself for not seeing the Omnioculars, Harry, Ron and Hermione were carrying when she had been souvenir shopping, but luckily Harry held his in front of her eyes every once in a while, to let her get a good look at Victor Krum and one of her all time favourite players, Moran, one of the main reasons, Jane got into Quidditch in the first place.   
As the hours passed, the match grew increasingly brutal, with more fouls, injuries and near death experiences than Jane could count, and she'd be damned if she didn't have the best time of her life. The Irish Chasers were unstoppable, unbeatable, wonderful- Jane was screaming herself hoarse, and silently hoped, the snitch would never get caught, so that they could remain in this moment of time forever, the Veela dancing, the leprechauns buzzing, Moran shooting past them on her Firebolt after scoring, throwing her fists in the air.  
Sadly it came to an end way too soon "IRELAND WIN!" shouted Ludo Bagman "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH- BUT IRELAND WIN- good Lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"  
"We were." said Fred and George and Jane held her hand out for George to give her a high five, before going back to applauding and cheering.   
"WHAT A GAME!" said Jane, jumping on Harry's back as soon as they were back out in the woods "Did you see the way Moran did a perfect Porskoff Ploy with herself? I still can't believe it- of course with the Firebolt it shouldn't be too hard, and then that flawless score-"  
"Forget Moran!" said Ron "Krum won us the game and did you see him? Riding the wind like- like a bird! He's more than an athlete- he's- he's an artist!"  
"Think you're in love, Ron." swooned Ginny, nudging him.  
"Victor I love you!" sang George.  
"Victor I dooo!" yelled Fred.  
"When we're apart my heart beats only for you!" Ginny, Harry and Jane chimed in and Ron secretly flipped them off, without his father noticing.  
"Where d'you think the players are staying tonight?" asked Jane.  
"Why?" said Harry.  
"If we went there and got into Moran's tent- d'you think she'd give me an autograph?"  
"Sure." said Harry "Right after she calls security on you and has you locked up in Azkaban for inappropriate stalking."  
"But you see, you saying inappropriate stalking implies appropriate stalking, which this would be. In and out, five minute adventure. We get and autograph-"  
"We're not stalking Moran, Jay."  
"AHA!" said Charlie "Harry Potter said it, now it's gonna stick!"  
"It's not gonna stick, Charlotte." said Jane.  
"Talking about sticking-" said Harry "How about you get off my back already, Jay?"  
"No way." she shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck "I'm not making one more step today. I'll get off your back when you bring me in my bed, tuck me in and read But Not the Hippopotamus to me."  
"You're spoiled."  
"Rotten." she agreed. She really was exhausted though. She got way too little sleep the night before and the day had enough excitement for a lifetime. Back in the tent she joined the others for a cup of cocoa, but as soon as she had taken a sip, she fell asleep with her head on Hermione's shoulder and only woke up for a second to follow the girls into their tent where they all finally called it a night.  
"And here come the Irish!" announced Ludo Bagman to the cheering audience and Jane pushed off the ground "Connolly, Quigley, Mullet, Moran, Lupin, Wood and Potter!" more cheering from the stances as they flew a big round, the leprechauns still dancing in the air and letting gold rain down on the players. Jane's green and white robes were blowing in the wind as they flew through the arena on her Firebolt and she caught the Quaffle right before the Bulgarian Chaser, Ivanova could get her hands on it and passed it over to Moran who smiled back at Jane. The game carried on for a few hours and soon, Jane had everyone in the audience chanting her name.  
"LUPIN! LUPIN! LUPIN!"  
"JANE! JANE GET UP!" something very real was shaking her and Jane shot up to see Hermione towering over her with a nervous expression "C'mon Jane, we have to get going!"  
"Hm?" she rubbed her eyes once more to see Ginny by the exit already wearing a jacket and her boots "What's going on?"  
"Nothing good-" said Hermione swiftly "C'mon, put on a jacket and shoes we have to go, now!"  
Jane yawned one more time and suddenly her hearing was clear as day. There was no more cheering and singing coming from the outside, instead she heard screams and thousands of feet rushing past. She grabbed her fathers old leather jacket and slipped into her boots and quickly followed the girls outside.


	22. N O   P L A C E   L I K E   T H E   P A S T

Chaos. Mr Weasley was already waiting outside their tent, surrounded by Harry, Ron, Fred and George all in their pyjamas. Jane looked around through the mess, people running in all directions that led towards the woods, running through the still burning campfires on their way to safety. She saw Haven, all alone, running faster than anybody else and Jane once again couldn't help but wonder what was going on in that girl's life. So far she had seen Haven in only three moods, bored, angry or joking around, usually at Jane's expense.  
But in that very moment, she was carrying an expression of terror. Her hair and eyes were flashing in different colours, green, white, black, her face seemed to be changing as well, her nose grew and shrunk as she sped towards the woods, her hands surrounded by blue flames.  
"We're going to help the Ministry!" shouted Mr Weasley "You lot- get into the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!" together with Bill, Charlie and Percy he sprinted towards a group of hooded figures, with masks covering their faces.   
"Jay, come on!" said Harry, tugging her arm, while she was still trying to make sense of the situation.   
"We should help!" she said, pointing at the Roberts family being levitated in the air "We should-"  
"Do what Mr Weasley said and go into the woods." said Hermione and grabbed Jane's arm until she finally realized that there was nothing she could do, and followed them into the woods.  
They ran as quickly as they could, until they finally came to a stop deep between the trees. "Harry, are you-" Jane stopped and looked around, Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't with them anymore. The world went red in front of Jane's eyes and her ears began ringing, with panic setting in. "Harry?" she shouted and started back towards the campsite, but Fred held her back. "Let go-" she shook his hands off "We have to find Harry! Or I have to find Harry-"  
"Hermione and Ron aren't here either." he said "They're probably somewhere together, don't worry-"  
"Probably." she hissed "Probably isn't good enough. You don't know if they're safe, you don't know if he's safe." a thousand thoughts crossed he mind. Pettigrew, Voldemort, Malfoy, Deatheaters, all sorts of monsters who could've snatched Harry. He could be hurt, dead, kidnapped- who knew what would happen to him if one of Voldemort's followers got their hands on him. She rubbed her face "Do what you want, I have to find Harry."  
"Dad said we have to stay together-"  
"Well, we're not though, are we? Three of us could be god knows where."  
"They won't be at the campsite." said George "They followed us all the way into the woods, we must've lost them in here somewhere. C'mon, we'll see if we can find them." he put his hand on Jane's shoulder "It's going to be alright, promise."  
"How could you possibly know?"  
"Harry, Ron and Hermione together, it always works out for them. I'll bet they're already coming our direction, looking for us as well." he took out his wand "Lumos." Fred and Ginny lit their wands as well, and Jane could've kicked herself for doing magic outside of Hogwarts when she was eleven and having her father take her wand privilege away from her. They were plodding through the thick undergrowth for what felt like an eternity.  
"We should've found them by now." said Jane, worried. She had given up all her pride along time ago and looked around with oozing eyes. They were supposed to be asleep right now, they were supposed to have a good time. Never did she plan on hiding out in the woods in the middle of the night with no idea where Harry was.   
"Oh that's not good-" George was looking up to the sky, and through the treetops Jane could see exactly what he meant. The emerald green of the deatheaters, imprinted in the night sky.  
"The dark mark-" she whispered as screams began echoing through the woods. "We have to find Harry, come on!"  
"We can't go there-" George stopped her from running towards the point the mark was looming above "Whoever conjured it might still be there. Let's just wait it out. There's nothing we can do about it at the moment."  
"Wait it out." muttered Jane to herself "Let's just wait it out." Fred and George sat down, leaning against a tree and Ginny, half asleep and half worried, hid her face in Fred's coat while Jane kept pacing up and down, waiting for just anything to happen. Ten minutes... fifteen minutes...  
"Can you stop that?" groaned Fred "You're making me nervous."  
"Oh, I'm sorry." said Jane, not interrupting her pacing "I'm sorry I'm making you nervous during such a nice and relaxed time. Could I interest you in a brew instead? I'll just mash it up while my best friends and your brother could be anywhere. Oh, us jammy bastards, living through the best time of our lives and here I am, making you nervous-"  
"Ah, good-" a ministry man appeared from between the trees "You kids can go back to the campsite now, it'll be alright."  
"Would you look at that." snarled Fred "Your screaming actually helped for once." he pulled Ginny to her feet and moved the group approximately towards campsite.   
They didn't have to do much more waiting, once they were back by the tents, until Harry, Ron and Hermione returned in company of Mr Weasley, and Jane could've sworn she felt a heavy rock fall from her heart. "Oh thank Merlin!" she jumped around Harry's neck and he quickly hugged her back, just as tightly.  
"You didn't worry, did you?"   
"No, not at all." she held him close for a little longer, before she let him return to his tent and was lucky she didn't have to explain to Sirius, how his godson had been stolen from the face of the earth.   
They returned to the Burrow, bright and early the next day, exhausted from the night and relieved to be somewhere, they felt safe again, and after thanking Mr Weasley, and saying goodbye to everyone, Jane took the fireplace back home.  
Jane stumbled out of the fireplace to find Sirius sitting on one of the sofas, flipping through an old photo album, the sleeves of his sweater pulled all the way over his hands and pressed to his face. They were wet from his tears and Jane wanted nothing more than to just back away into the fireplace and go back to the Burrow, but instead she cleared her throat and raised her hand when Sirius looked up to her. "Hiya." she said awkwardly.  
"Oh-" Sirius sniffed and rubbed his face before closing the book and pretending everything was normal "Ama, good time at the World Cup?"  
"Er- yes, it was nice." the news of the deatheater attack must've not made it to Grimmauld place yet, luckily. Jane did her best to avoid his red eyes and played with the fire poker instead until she accidentally poked herself in the leg making her grunt quietly "Look at that... the thing that's been laying in the fire is actually hot. Everyday you learn something new."  
"Did you say something?"  
"Oh-" Jane took a deep breath "I'm not good with... er- what are you looking at?"  
"Oh that-" Sirius opened the album back up "Moony gave me some old photo albums... it's all sorts of stuff." he sniffed again and rubbed his nose "You as well. Some of it. It's funny... I was there for your first few big firsts but..."  
"Like what?" said Jane, sitting down somewhat next to him.  
"Your first word, first steps, that kinda stuff."  
"Really? D'you remember what I said?"  
He scoffed "Prongs. You said Prongs. I mean technically pwongs, but I try not to criticize too harshly."  
"Why on earth would my first word have been Prongs?"  
"Because James that prick made sure of it. Whenever Hazel, Moony or I weren't around to stop him, he'd just sit by your crib and repeat 'say Prongs. C'mon say Prongs.' I tried to do the same of course, whenever I saw Harry I hoped for at least a Pad but that little traitor said 'mama' instead."  
Jane rolled her eyes "Even as a baby, Harry was nothing more than a basic bitch. Typical."  
"At least Lily was happy. Look-" he pointed a picture of Lily, with two babies- Harry and Jane- sitting in her lap and annoying each other.  
"She was beautiful."  
"Yes, yes, don't remind me. Had to listen to James swoon for about eight years, about how beautiful Lily was." he flipped through more pages and Jane spotted the time her father took her to the small town carnival "I have to ask, what happened when you were about five? Look at that-" it was a picture of Jane, about four years old, holding her middle fingers up to the camera. "And then suddenly-" he pointed at a picture of Jane when she was six, smiling politely, in a dress- of course she was wearing the baggy leather jacket over it, but otherwise she looked friendly and properly groomed "you started acting like a saint."  
"That was when I found out about the lycanthropy thing." she sighed.  
"And you were afraid he was gonna eat you if you didn't behave?" he joked.  
"No... I really messed up when I found out. I was being a total arse about it, actually. Dunno, I just didn't want to disappoint him after all that. Didn't last long though. Two days at Hogwarts, two days with Harry's terrible influence and I was back to normal." she shook her head "Da- Moony was livid when I got home but he said someone- well, you, actually- would be proud."  
"I am." he smiled "Moony's proud, too. Better believe that."  
"Yeah, where is he, by the way?"  
"Went to Diagon Alley; to get some things for school." he closed the album again "Which reminds me, did Harry say anything about popping by before the beginning of term? Does he need anything?"  
"He's probably gonna come by tomorrow, maybe stay for a while, but he's got all his school stuff at the Burrow, so he's gonna go with them to King's Cross. They got everything already, in case the game would've lasted longer."  
"Man, I've really gotta thank the Weasley some time." he sighed "Harry's really lucky to have a friend like Ron."  
"You've got no idea. I'm surprised Harry hasn't been starting to grow red hair already."  
"SIRIUS!" a bright green light erupted from the fireplace and Remus stumbled out of it, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve, the latest edition of the Daily Prophet clutched in his other hand "Sirius, we gotta go-" he managed to open his eyes and saw Jane sit only a few feet away from him "Merlin- thank you-" he pulled his daughter into a long and suffocating hug "I was so worried-"  
"Why?" said Sirius "What happened?"  
"Read for yourself." Remus handed him the newspaper "Deatheaters at the world cup, The dark mark-"  
"Way to spoil it." said Sirius. "Oh this isn't good. Not good at all. Ama, why didn't you say something?"  
"You didn't ask." said Jane. "It didn't come up."  
"Oh come on now, I asked about the cup."  
"Yeah, and it was a good time. The night after, not so much. Anyways, I just didn't want to cause any unnecessary worry, y'know? It's all fine. Nothing happened."  
"Nothing happened?" said Remus "According to this, bodies were taken-"  
"Well, it also says those are rumours, Moony. Am, what exactly happened there?"  
Jane shrugged "I don't even know. We had to get up in the middle of the night because a group of deatheaters were terrorizing the muggles, then we ran into the woods to hide, and then the dark mark was conjured... only feet away from Harry... anyways, it scared the deatheaters away, which is odd. I don't really know all that much, I was tired."  
"Is everybody alright?" Sirius looked concerned "Is Harry alright?"  
"Yes, of course." said Jane "He's perfectly fine. They all are."  
"Good, good."  
Jane spent the day moving old boxes from the attic to the basement, avoiding any sorts of conversation about the World Cup. She had lost all her cool last night, and wasn't in the mood to go in detail. Most of the boxes were worthless, at least to her. To Sirius and Remus however, the stupid old baby-clothes, stuffed animals, toys and drawings seemed to be of sentimental value. However, Jane was rather interested in a large, heavy box, with 'MARAUDERS' written on it. It was filled to the top with VHS tapes, 'A Debate on the Greasiness of Snivellus' Hair', 'The Idiots of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor', 'The Week Of Am and Harry'.  
"Hey, dad?" Jane almost broke her back, lifting the box from the attic down to the dining room "What's this stuff?"  
He sighed deeply "I forgot about those stupid things. Mrs Potter had a terrible lack in judgement and got James and Sirius a video recorder for sixth year..."  
"Ah-" Sirius looked at the box "You kept them?"  
"Must've."  
"Brilliant! Ama, what you're looking at, are the Marauders Chronicles. At least three hundred hours worth of footage. Prongs wouldn't put the camera down for even a second."  
"You weren't any better, pads."  
"You're just mad the camera loved you, Moony." said Sirius before nudging Jane "C'mon, you can look at some of the stuff, if you'd like."  
Jane nodded enthusiatically "I'd love to." they went back up to the drawing room, where Sirius put apparently the first ever tape, 'The Adventures of Padfoot and Prongs 75' into the player.  
\--------------------------------  
"Look, it's finally recording-" James Potter backed away from the camera and straightened his glasses before putting on a charming grin "Hello motherfuckers!"   
"JAMES FLEAMONT POTTER!" a muffled but angry voice came from somewhere off screen and James winced, peering over to the corner.  
"Sorry mum!" he cleared his throat and smiled back at the camera "Hello ladies and gentlemen, my pals my mates and all the lucky chums getting to take a look at me."  
"Yes, you make a pleasant sidekick." Sirius appeared into frame and pushed his hair back, offering a wide grin as well and took a long drag from the cigarette he was holding between his teeth.  
"Man, I told you, you can't do that in my room." whispered James, with a nervous look over to the same corner.  
"The window's open."  
"Yeah, but mum just put on new sheets, she'll have a fit, if she smells that crap."  
"Oh, alright." sighed Sirius and crawled back onto the window sill and held his head out of the window. "What're you doing anyways?"  
"Giving future historians some quality content- oh turn that up, will you?"  
Sirius groaned and reached down to the turntable on the shelve next to him and turned up the volume, and 'Mad To Scream' by the Weird Sisters almost completely drowned out their conversation. "I miss my records. This sucks."  
James looked directly in the camera and shook his head "Padfoot got into a bad fight with his husband so now he doesn't know how to appreciate good music."  
"Good music." scoffed Sirius "You listen to the same three bands on repeat, and if you dare to tell me The Merlin Five are any good, I'll smack you."  
"At least you can dance to it. You've been obsessed with Bowie since second year."  
\----------------------------  
Sirius threw a shoe after James and the screen went black for a second, before James, this time in a garden returned with a devilish look. He held a finger to his lips and pointed over to a hose "I think Wormtail needs to cool off a little." he whispered and swung the camera over to where Peter Pettigrew lay in the grass and listened to Sirius, who sat aside in the shadows, rant. James walked over to the tap and turned the water all the way up, hitting Pettigrew with a strong stream. He jumped and fled the water, cursing James loudly.  
Jane sat up straight and tried to looked into the very corner, where Remus now came into sight. He didn't look anything like himself. His hair was trimmed short, and he had a very unpleasant look on his face.  
"Alright there Moony?" said James and Remus shrugged, lighting himself a cigarette. "Want a little refreshment as well?"  
"If you spray me with that shit I'll drown you in your toilet." muttered Remus, walking past him to sit down on a bench and read his book. The heavy, black boots he was wearing, were the same ones, Jane had been wearing for the past five years, always stuffing them with newspapers to make them fit.  
James turned the camera back to his own face and pulled a grimace "He's sweet, isn't he."  
\-----------------------  
The screen went black again, and in the next scene, Sirius was aggressively rubbing stains off a Triumph. His Triumph, though it was in terrible condition, rusty, with the polish peeling off and the leather seat barely holding together.  
"Oh my-" said James' voice from behind the camera "Look how manly- I think I might faint."  
"You can swoon later, Prongs." said Sirius "For now, the wrench will do."  
"Here you go." said James, handing Sirius the wrench "He doesn't get laid enough, so now he's obsessed with this old pile of scrap. As if we don't all have brooms."  
"Hey, Prongs?" Sirius looked up and reached into his pocket "I've got something for you." he pulled his hand out of the pocket and held his middle finger up high, making James snicker.  
\-------------------------------  
The tape seemed to be a collection of random times, James had decided to take out the camera and avoid his friends. Jane wasn't quite sure what had happened between Sirius and Remus, but they seemed to have had a serious fight, because they didn't say a single word to each other. Peter Pettigrew however, seemed to love the sound of his own voice, and whenever he appeared on screen, Jane flinched and had to stop herself from yelling obscenities at him. But mostly it was just James and Sirius goofing off in their shared room, working on the Triumph and taking it for occasional test-runs.  
Jane took the tape out and put 'The Idiots of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor' in instead.  
\---------------------------------  
'If I ever get back to Fun City, girl  
I'm gonna make you scream all night  
Honey, honey, call me on the telephone'  
Loud music roared through a Gryffindor dorm room, with a group of teenagers sitting in a circle, cups piling up in the middle of them. James was sitting in the shot, he wasn't the one holding the camera, instead he held up both his thumbs with a proud smile, and pointed at Lily, half asleep on his shoulder.  
Next to Lily sat two other girls, both quite beautiful and rolling their eyes at James. "C'mon Marlene!" the voice came from behind the camera "Truth or Dare?"  
"Fine, dare." said one of the girls, Marlene.   
"Gladly. I dare you to snog Peter." the camera swung over to Pettigrew, who immediately held up his middle finger, burning red in the face. He took a long sip from his cup, before Marlene gave him a long and proper snog, leaving him incredibly flustered.  
The camera turned to show Sirius holding it and he winked "You're welcome Wormtail." then he turned it back to Marlene and said "You're up."  
"Fine-" she beamed through the room "Remus, truth or dare?"  
"Dare." said Remus, sitting closely to Sirius.  
Marlene thought for a second "I dare you to... to share some of your greenhouse stach with us, right now. Make it a big one, will you."  
Remus groaned and reached into his pocket from which he pulled some small papers and a bag of a green herb, making everybody else cheer.  
"Nice one." said James.  
Jane watched with disbelief as her father rolled up a flawless joint, lit it and began passing it on.  
\-------------------------------------------  
"Take that thing out of my face, will you?" it was a different scene and Lily tried to hide her face from the camera "I'm trying to study."  
"It was your dare, Lily." said Sirius' voice "C'mon, you don't wanna miss that. Prongs making a fool out of himself, how does that not tickle your fancy?"  
"Oh alright." she said resigned and closed her book. Together they crawled out of the portrait hole, where James, Remus and Peter Pettigrew were standing and peering down the grand staircase.   
"There she comes." said Remus and gave James a pat on the back "Go knock her off her feet, Prongs."  
James pushed his hair back, straightened his clothes and began jumping down the stairs, followed by the camera at a safe distance, until he came to a sudden stop in front of Professor McGonagall. "Minnie-" he said with a charming voice "I was hoping to see you here."  
"Mr Potter-" McGonagall sighed "What are you up to now?"  
"Up to? Nothing. You always think the worst of me." he leaned against the railing and tried to look especially cool "As you know, Valentine's Day is coming up, and I couldn't think of anyone, I'd rather spend it with than with you. How about the Three Broomsticks at seven?" he winked, and Sirius laughed quietly, hiding further behind a corner.  
"Oh well Mr Potter, I'd love nothing more." said McGonagall "But I'm afraid you and Mr Black will already be spending Valentine's Day together. In detention. Now please go back to your common room, it is past curfew."  
"You break my heart yet again, professor." whined James and carried himself back to Sirius.  
"I've known you for six years mate, and all I've ever seen you do is get rejected."  
"Beat it." muttered James and gave the camera a small hit, turning it off.  
\---------------------------  
The Marauders seemed to have a gift for annoying everyone around them and make them love them at the same time. They joked around, gave each other ridiculous dares, James asked Lily out at least once a day and they spent a lot of time getting drunk and smoking, especially on their birthdays, for which they always organized massive parties in the common room. Jane almost felt a little sad that Harry's birthday was during the summer holidays, she would've loved to throw him a party like that some day. She watched tape after tape, Lily finally folding and falling in love with James, Remus and Sirius seemed to have admitted their feelings for each other some time between their sixth and seventh year, because suddenly they seemed to never leave each others sides and Pettigrew- well, Jane couldn't believe that he had turned out the way he did. He was whiny, calm and seemed decent enough. Eventually, she fell asleep for a few hours, only to wake up to Harry making loud thumping noises as he fell out of the fireplace.  
"I'll never get used to Floo powder." he grunted and beat the soot off his clothes. "Oh, did I wake you up?"  
Jane yawned and inspected him with sleepy eyes "What're you doing here?"  
He shrugged "Wanted to get a little more time with Sirius before we leave for the year, y'know? What are you doing here?"  
"I live here."  
"In the drawing room, I mean. You have a bed, no?"  
"Oh, right..." she rubbed her eyes and sat up "Look, all those tapes. It's our parents, their friends... all that."  
Harry went silent and looked at the tapes "My parents?"  
"Yeah. Your father was very loud, if I may say so."  
Harry smiled "You can hear him speak?"  
"You can hear him never shut up, actually."  
"Well- what were they like?"  
"Hmm, let me think-" Jane tried to find the right words for what she'd been watching. "It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, considering how we turned out, but they were a bunch of idiots. All of them. The whole lot. Your dad- I think he was acting as sort of the mom of the group but he was an idiot. My dad, Sirius, both idiots. Your mother- I really thought she was different, she seemed sensible at first, but she was just as bad. And so were her friends, Marlene and Mary. The only person with any sort of common sense, was Neville's dad, Frank. Pettigrew was a mess... don't get me wrong, they were smart as hell, a lot of fun, I loved every second."  
Harry grinned "Perfect. Have you watched them all?" he eyed the large pile.  
"Nah, just most of the stuff at school. I was gonna watch that one next..." she handed him 'The Week Of Am and Harry' "I think it's from the time we were born... Maybe I'll even see my mom-"  
"Well, then lets watch it! Don't suppose Sirius is up yet?"  
"You'd suppose correctly."  
\----------------------------------  
"Hello there ladies and gentlemen!" James was speaking and holding the camera fixed on Sirius, who was working on his bike in the middle of a dark and busy road "May I present, the biggest fool in all of England! The man who's going to miss his kid's birth because he insisted on driving instead of apparating!"  
"Will you shut up already?" Sirius threw a dirty towel after James "I've almost got it. We're not going to miss it."  
"If you say so." he snarled "Have you decided what you're gonna name it yet?"  
"Well..." Sirius thought for a second "If it's a girl, Hazel wants Bailey, but I'm trying to get her to change that to Amaris, and if it's a boy..." he went silent for a moment and concentrated on his bike "I thought... Regulus, second name Mars, after Hazel's father."  
"Regulus? Seriously?"  
Sirius shrugged "Just a thought... dunno, maybe not." a loud roar came from the bike and he gave it a triumphant slap "All set, let's go."  
"About time."  
\------------------------------  
"Where on earth have you been?" a very pregnant Lily ran towards the two young men rushing down the hallways and Harry held his breath. "Sirius, go to Hazel right now! And James Potter, how dare you not make sure he gets here on time?"  
"Sorry ma'am." muttered James before quickly running after Sirius. They entered a room, buzzing with girls running up and down, in the middle of them, on a bed lay Hazel Ladon, exhausted but smiling.   
"Ah, Sirius." she scoffed "Nice of you to make it. They're wrapping your daughter up as we speak."  
"So... that's your mother?" whispered Harry "She seems really cool."  
"She really does." agreed Jane.  
"Daughter?" Sirius almost jumped "We have a daughter?"  
"Here she is." said Mary and handed Hazel a little bundle. "She's beautiful."  
Sirius sat down next to Hazel and looked at the tiny baby in her arms "Bloody hell- would you look at her..."  
"Hi Amaris-" whispered Hazel, wiping a quick tear from her eyes.  
"Amaris?" Sirius raised his eyebrows "Are you sure?"  
"Just look at her." she smiled "It's perfect."  
"Shame." said James "Baileys Irish Cream is delicious. I would've loved a goddaughter named after a brand of liquor."  
"Oh, bugger off, Prongs." said Sirius.  
"Here, hold this-" James handed the camera to someone else and walked over to the bed and leaned in to get a better look, only to snort with laughter "Are babies always this wrinkly?"  
Harry laughed loudly and Jane gave him a hard punch in the arm.  
"Look at that dent in her head-"  
"James!" Lily hissed behind the camera "Be nice."  
"I'm just kidding." said James and looked at the bundle in awe. "I can't believe it... little Ama, would you look at that..."  
Sirius carefully held out his hand, and a tiny hand wrapped itself around his finger, making the girls in the room squeal. "Alright everybody-" said Lily "Let's give the three of them some privacy."  
"Appreciated." said James.  
"James-" Lily whistled as though she was calling a dog "C'mon, you especially."  
\------------------------------  
The tape cut to a living toom floor, where Sirius sat, half asleep, with his daughter in his arms, and Remus all the way back, leaning against a wall and eyeing them with an uncomfortable distance.  
"I told you, Moony, you can hold her if you'd like." said Sirius.  
Remus shuddered "Just keep that thing away from me, will you?"  
"You're a prick."  
"I don't like kids. Sue me."  
"So, tell me Pads-" said James "How is it, being a father?"  
"Oh you'll find out soon enough." Sirius yawned "I think we were lucky with Ama, she's mostly quiet. But she has a weird feeding schedule. Three forty-two in the morning, like a clockwork, she starts screaming. And then at two in the afternoon..." another long yawn followed "But otherwise she's so quiet, you might think she's dead."  
"Oh glory." muttered Remus "Give it a price, will you?"  
Sirius glared at him and threw a stuffy at his face "Moony, one day I won't be tired anymore and then I'll kick you."  
"Can she do anything cool yet?" said James "Crawl, talk, walk, make something fly-"  
"She's three days old. She can eat and shit and that's about it." Hazel sat down next to Sirius and stroked the baby's head.  
"Not much has changed." said Harry and Jane hit him in the face with a pillow.  
"How's Lily doing?" said Sirius "It's about time now, isn't it?"  
"Any moment now." said James "She's moody, cranky and really mean. It's fourth year all over again."  
"Have you got names yet?" asked Hazel.  
"Undecided." said James "I mean Harmony for a girls is pretty far up there. Lily really wants a girl, so we haven't really talked about boy names. Maybe Henry or something."  
"Henry?" said Harry "Henry or something?"  
"Henry Potter." laughed Jane "Nerd."  
"That's stupid." said Sirius "Henry is geeky."  
"Or something." said James again "Maybe Fleamont-"  
"Oh bloody hell, no." said Sirius "C'mon Prongs, you can't name your child Fleamont. Not in the eighties. It's child abuse."  
"Being born is child abuse." grunted Remus, taking out a cigarette "I'll see you guys later, yeah?"  
"Wait up." said Sirius and passed the baby on to Hazel before following Remus outside.  
\---------------------------  
James held the camera to his face with the proudest smile imaginable and turned, until Lily, with another bundle came into view "Hello world! I am a father!"  
"A loud one." said Lily.  
"Yes, rightfully so." James got closer to her and showed the little thing in her arms "May I present, Harry James Potter."  
Fourteen year old Harry hid his face behind his knees and Jane comfortingly put her hand on his back.  
The door opened and Sirius, Remus and Pettigrew all snuck into the room.  
"Wrinkly." said Sirius quietly. "And look at the dent in his head."  
"Oh sod off." said James "He's the handsomest boy in the entire world."  
"Lily, didn't you want a girl?" said Sirius.  
"Shush." she said firmly, and then very sweetly "Don't listen to him, Harry. I love you so much."  
\-------------------------------  
Harry jumped up and Jane stopped the tape "You okay there?"  
He nodded "Yeah-" but he was biting back his tears "She said she loved me-"  
"Of course she did."


End file.
